mm 



'-■■ ■ 



•■•■- il -■-■"■ ' 



w 



■ mi •• : ■■'.-■ 
6 Tiiff8i8it& 

■-.--.-'-•-.--' 



3»« 













fit™ ' - : °lfc 

Book 



.l v l£ 



THE 



HISTORY 



CELTIC LANGUAGE: 



WHEREIN IT IS SHOWN TO BE BASED UPON NATURAL PRINCIPLES, 

AND, ELEMENTARILY CONSIDERED, CONTEMPORANEOUS 

WITH THE INFANCY OF THE HUMAN FAMILY : 

LIKE" ISZ 

SHOWING ITS IMPORTANCE IN ORDER TO THE PROPER 

UNDERSTANDING OF THE CLASSICS, INCLUDING THE SACRED TEXT. 

THE HIEROGLYPHICS, THE CABALA, ETC. ETC. 



BY L. MACLEAN, F.O.S, 

Author of" Historical Account of Iona," " Sketches of St Kilda," Sec. Sec. 



LONDON: 

SMITH, ELDER, and CO.; 

EDINBURGH: M'LACHLAN, STEWART, and CO, 

GLASGOW: DUGALD MOORE. 

MDCCCXL. 






x fo 



" IT CONTAINS MANY TRUTHS WHICH ARE ASTOUNDING, AND AT 
WHICH THE IGNORANT MAY SNEER; BUT THAT WILL NOT TAKE 
FROM THEIR ACCURACY."— SEE. SIR WILLIAM BETHAM's LETTER TO 
THE AUTHOR IN REFERENCE TO THE GAELIC EDITION. 

" WORDS ARE THE DAUGHTERS OP EARTH— THINGS ARE THE 
SONS OF HEAVEN."— SAMUEL JOHNSON. 



GLASGOW.— EDWARD K.HULL, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY. 



I3e&ication* 



RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR ROBERT PEEL, 

baronet, m.p. 
Sir, 

An ardent admirer of your character, 
public and private, I feel proud of the permission 
you have kindly granted me to Dedicate to you 
this humble Work. 

The highest and most noble privilege of great 
men is the opportunity their station affords them 
of fostering the Fine Arts, and amplifying the 
boundaries of useful knowledge. 

That this spirit animates your bosom, each 
successive day is adding proof: nor is the fact 



IV DEDICATION. 

unknown, that whilst your breast glows with the 
fire of the patriot, beautifully harmonizing with the 
taste of the scholar, your energies are likewise 
engaged on the side of that pure religion of 
your fathers, with which your own mind has 
been so early imbued, and which, joined with 
Education, is, as has properly been said, " the 
cheapest defence of a nation;" as it is the only solid 
foundation whereon to build our hopes of bliss in 
a world to come. This is the spirit, this the 
principle which obtained for the great and noble 
names of antiquity a consecrated place in our 
memory— whether philosophers whose minds led 
them to investigate the mysteries of human nature 
and the laws of things in general, or statesmen 
who commanded the senate not less by their 
oratory than by the wisdom of their counsels: 
this is the spirit, this the principle which made 
England mistress of the world; and this is the 
spirit, this the principle which is wooing this 
great empire to the name of the Right Honour- 
able Sir Robert Peel. That this volume, 



DEDICATION. V 

which you have been pleased to patronize, is 
faultless, the Author is not vain enough to suppose; 
nor would he willingly compromise candour so 
much as to allow that it is altogether devoid of merit. 
" Whatever makes the past, the distant, or the 
future, predominate over the present, advances us 
in the dignity of thinking beings ;" and what can be 
more conducive to this end than the study of man 
— the study of antiquity — the contemplation of 
fallen greatness ! 

The merits and demerits, however, no one re- 
quires to point out to you, whose classical acumen 
at Oxford gained the plaudits of a Byron, and 
whose penetration can see almost intuitively the 
true bearing, present and future, of a measure of 
state upon which haply hangs the destinies of mon- 
archs. To be judged of by such a Patron, is the 
Author's anchor of hope. 

That your life may be long spared to cheer the 
domestic circle, to protect your country's liberties, 



VI DEDICATION* 

properly so called, and to fill with your name a 
still larger portion of the history of the nineteenth 
century, and that that name may not suffer any 
diminution of its due respect and regard for having 
condescended to patronize this feeble but honest 
effort, is, 

Right Honourable Baronet, 

With profound regard, 

The sincere prayer of, 

THE AUTHOR. 

Argyll Street, Glasgow,"! 
28th April, 1S40. j 



PREFACE, 



If any person take up the History of the Celtic 
Language, as about to be submitted, and expect 
to get through it as through a song, for that person 
the author has not written : " Intelligibilia non in- 
tellectum adfero" 

At the commencement of the present order of 
material things, the first sun indicated day by a 
faint but perceptible heraldic emanation in the East, 
gradually waxing stronger and stronger, till now, 
behold ! the king of day himself gilding the summit 
of the mountains with the splendour of his counte- 
nance, and now gradually mounting, and diffusing 
stronger light — stronger intelligence — till he arrives 
at the goal of noon. This appears to the author 
no inapt emblem of the commencement of the order 
of things in the moral world. If we would contem- 
plate the human family in its infant state, we must 



Vlll PREFACE. 

turn our backs upon this hemisphere, and travel to 
the East, to see the dawn of intellect, and there 
listen to the efforts of infant humanity forming a 
language ; we must learn the powers of their signs 
and symbols — a giant alphabet— and attend to the 
reduction of these rudiments to practice. In brief, 
we must contemplate man as naked. 

The doctrine advocated in the following pages 
is not a new one ; the writer's mode of treating it, 
perhaps, is. To those who never reflected upon 
the subject, the arguments may appear astounding; 
but this is no disproof. Truth has oftentimes had 
a whole world against her. When Pythagoras 
first disturbed the unphilosophical but secure opin- 
ion, namely, that the earth stood still, and that 
the sun rose and set merely to please earth's pom- 
pous habitants, his doctrine was not only ridiculed, 
but also persecuted. After him, however, when 
eighteen centuries had elapsed, Copernicus took 
it up — and, in process of time, a Kepler, a Galileo, 
a Newton, and a Herschell — till at length the lazy 
earth has been really made to travel round the sun 
like other planets, just as the ridiculed philosopher 
had advocated. Nay, in a more enlightened age, 
and in a Protestant country, a Hoffman's opinion 



PREFACE. IX 



of carbonic acid gas, as affecting animal life, was 
anathematized by more than one German univer* 
sity as hostile to religion, and tending to atheism. 
Mr Coleridge tells the story thus: " Three or four 
students, at the university of Jena, in the attempt 
to raise a spirit for the discovery of a supposed 
hidden treasure, were strangled or poisoned by the 
fumes of the charcoal they had been burning, in a 
close garden-house of a vineyard near Jena, while 
employed in their magic fumigations and charms. 
One only was restored to life; and from his account 
of the noises and spectres in his ears and eyes, as 
he was losing his senses, it was taken for granted 
that the bad spirit had destroyed them. Frederic 
Hoffman admitted that it was a very bad spirit 
that had tempted them — the spirit of avarice and 
folly ; and that a very noxious spirit — gas or geist 
— was the immediate cause of their death. But 
he contended that this latter spirit was the spirit of 
charcoal, which would have produced the same 
effect had the young men been chaunting psalms, 
instead of incantations, and acquitted the devil of 
all direct concern in the business. The theological 
faculty took the alarm — even physicians pretended 
to be horror-stricken at Hoffman's audacity. The 

a2 



X PREFACE. 

controversy and its appendages imbittered several 
years of this great and good man's life. 5 ' 

The author quotes these facts to show that Truth 
maybe no less Truth, although she may not be at first 
sight recognised by the multitude — not that he fears 
a similar reception himself. No ! The nineteenth 
century has no parallel in past centuries. Mind 
is no longer led about, like a Samson, bound and 
blind — the giant has burst his shackles, and may 
be seen in every quarter of the globe, with his 
myrmidons chasing Prejudice and Superstition to 
the shades. There are, he is aware, some who, 
like the limpet, stick close to the barren rock — 
wedded to it by the adhesive power of prejudged 
opinions, without ever being able to shoot one 
argument; but these the tide of public opinion 
will soon overwhelm. 

To the critic the writer has little to say beyond 
pleading apology for his style, being an author in 
a tongue to him altogether acquired since he arrived 
at manhood. The grand proposition, taking it as 
an aggregate whole, is based upon eternal truth, 
and, therefore, beyond the power of little minds ; 
and great minds will ever give a judicious verdict. 

The author, willing however to allow every fair 



PREFACE. XI 

play, is induced at this early stage of the work to 
combat a few of the prevailing prejudices against 
the claims of the Celtic to be the primordial lan- 
guage. In the first place, therefore, he would 
submit that he by no means contends for this 
honour under the appellation Celtic, or Keltic, 
alone. It will appear by-and-by that " Cufic" 
"Coptic" " Aramic" "Punic" together with a 
few more, are equivalent appellations, and, there- 
fore, one language under varied symbolic names. 

In order to the due apprehension of this argu- 
ment, the mind requires to be sent back to the 
infancy of the human family, when the seeds of 
Science were sown, and again follow the fruit of 
these seeds in the track of Time. 

With a view to illustrate this proposition, the 
author has given in a Frontispiece a Celestial 
Globe, with the figures upon it representing the 
constellations in the true ancient manner, as marked 
on a statue of Atlas in the Farnese Palace at 
Rome. The two bears and southern fish are sup- 
posed to have been obliterated by the damages it 
has sustained. This globe is the heavens which 
Atlas is said to support by his shoulders, which, 
when examined into, is literally true. 



xn Preface. 

It would appear, that at a very early stage of 
human existence the periodical returns of those 
luminaries which announced the returns of the 
seasons were made a subject of study ; and what 
was more natural for man to suppose than that 
these heralds of the seasons really exerted an in- 
fluence over them ? Be this as it may, society 
would find it requisite, very soon, to keep a calen- 
dar by which to regulate their labours ; and that 
calendar we have in this Farnese globe. In the 
absence of letters, a heavenly sign was indicated 
by an animal bearing a fancied resemblance, or 
obvious analogy ; these animals were known each 
by a natural name, imitative of their voices or notes 
severally, which names again were transferred to 
the heavenly bodies represented or indicated. 
Thus the symbol, and the object symbolized, 
became virtually one ; and, in process of time, 
the intelligence attributed to the heavenly bodies 
came to be attributed likewise to the symbol : 
hence the origin of creature-worship, or idolatry, 
as also of letters. 

It is remarkable, that any Celt, however illi- 
terate, will name the figures upon this globe, and 
name them, too, as named at their first institution. 



PREFACE. XU1 

whether in Chaldea or Egypt, thousands of ages 
past ! This itself is proof positive of the identity 
of the Celtic and the primordial language : there- 
fore we might call a halt even here. The name of 
that little fellow sitting on the equator, for exam- 
ple, is variously Oug, Aug, Avag, Affag, and its 
yelp Tauihun. The name of the larger dog un- 
derneath is Cu or CoUj inflected Can or Coin ; of 
the Eagle, lul or Eol ; of the Man, Ais or Esh ; 
of the Bull, Tarv; of the Scales, Migh; of the 
Horse, Prus ; of the Serpent, Eph, or Pehir, or 
Nahir, or Pheten, according to its species ; and so 
of the rest ! 

As knowledge increased, men now began to unite 
two or more of these figures into one — an idea 
suggested, probably, by the periodical union of 
the planets with the sun. This compound figure 
requires, of course, a compound appellation, and 
hence the origin of compounds. If a horse was 
called Prus when single, and the man Es, it fol- 
lows that the two united, as upon our globe, 
become Es-Prus ; the man and the dog, Es-Cu; 
and so of the rest. Upon the same principle, 
when a single symbol was a deity, a compound 
symbol would be a compound god, and three 



XIV PREFACE. 

symbols united, a trinity; and here, again, the 
origin of the Pagan trinity, always implying the 
symbolic objects, now found in three radicals: for 
example, R-C-L, or, with their syllabic powers, 
Er-Cu-El, bespeak the circle, the dog, and the lion 
grouped, to be understood, in a sacred sense, as 
technical terms of an obsolete system. 

The bearing of these premises upon our grand 
argument will develope itself as we proceed with 
the work. 

The next point to be considered is the claim of 
the Hebrew language. In treating of this depart- 
ment, the author means to dispense with the 
" Masoretic points," and likewise with the " sup- 
plied vowels." 

The reader will at once allow, that in a work of 
Roots, like this, modern superinductions are in- 
admissible.* He will take radicals as syllabic 

* <e In the beginning of the fourth century," says Dr 
Murray, " the Syrians broke the immemorial practice of 
Eastern orthography, and introduced the Greek vowels a, e, h, 
(I) o, T, or 8, written in a small hand, and placed laterally 
above or below the letters. These vowels were soon cor- 
rupted into mere points" — Vide Outlines of Oriental Phi- 
lology, p. 4. 

" The pointed Hebrew is nothing akin to the written He- 



PREFACE. XV 

symbols, as they undoubtedly were in the Phoeni- 
cian alphabet — which alphabet, and not the He- 
brew, was used by the writer of the Jewish law r — 
and admitting of a vocal sound or vowel either be- 
fore or after. The symbol^ for example, may be 
sounded af ef or if; or perhaps, in the rapidity of 
pronunciation, corrupted into fa, fe, or fi. To 
the Hebrew > iud he will occasionally allow the 
power of iu, as well as that of i; and to ^ oin 9 
sometimes the power of o, om, and ain. To £ 
the power of p or ph, otherwise he will adhere to 

brew ; not only many of the words are so changed as to change 
their sense, but takes away all the perfection in the original. 
.... Pointing has made it a hodge podge, with neither the 
native perfections, nor with such as are in the new languages." 
— Vide " The Covenant in the Cherubim" London, 1734. 

" Masclef proposes to quit us of the trouble of learning, 
and writing and reading by the Masoretic points, and put us 
in the state the Jews were before they used those points, 
without knowing, much less stating, the condition they were 
in ; and puts us upon using a scheme instead of it, upon a 
false supposition, as his successor, U Sieur Rimeur de Ratines 
Hebraiques, tells us, that the sacred Hebrew Scriptures had 
vowels between the consonants, and that the Masorets wanted 
them to put in their vowel-points, which Masclef undertakes 
to supply without considering consequences, by inserting a 
vowel between each two consonants, where there is none in the 
text; fixing the sounds of the consonants and vowels without 
either rules or reasons" — Ibid. p. 260. 



XVI PREFACE. 

Parkhurst and Calmet. He will supply no vowel 
where no vowel is in the original: that would be 
" adding to the words of this Book," and incurring 
the curse. 

With the Hebrew language, under that appella- 
tion, he has no quarrel, being comparatively mo- 
dern; receiving its very name from Heber, the 
great-grandson of Shem, who flourished somewhere 
about two thousand years after the creation of 
Adam, and, consequently, about two thousand 
years after language had been ripening and flour- 
ishing. Those who plead for it as being the 
primitive language, under that name, give the lie, 
innocently, perhaps, to their own belief of the 
account of the confusion of the primitive tongue at 
Babel; seeing, it is plain, that if the primordial lan- 
guage were then and there confounded, it must have 
been then and there lost; and how could Heber, 
who flourished subsequently to that period, retain 
it? Our belief is, that the Arabic, Phoenician, 
Coptic, Cufic, Ethiopic, Chaldaic, Hebrew, Celtic, 
Syriac, Nohic, Japhetic, and many more, were at 
one period, with some slight dialectical difference, 
one and the same language, and that the primor- 
dial one, in a more mature state. The very appella- 



PREFACE. XVII 

tive Heber, the author would, in submission, call 
a misnomer. The original is -QV oinbr or ainbr. 
Now, oin or ain means, in Celtic, a river, and bar 
or bhar, beyond. " The term Heber," therefore, 
says the Rev. Mr Davies, page 67, " signifies 
to cross over, or simply the opposite side; which 
name he seems to have acquired from the circum* 
stance of his crossing over with his family to the 
east side of the Euphrates, from the tumultuous 
assembly of Nimrod, who had seated themselves 
on the western bank, where old Babylon is sup- 
posed to have stood." The name, therefore, is 
equivalent to our Inver ; whence Inverich, Iber- 
ich, or Iberians, and Ebirich or Ebrideans — all 
expressive of isolation, or beyond water. Herein 
we are abundantly borne out by sacred writ 
itself. The identical word -Q2 oinbr, is the word 
rendered in Deut. iv. 49, " This side Jordan;" 
in Joshua xiii. 27, " The other side Jordan;" 
and in 2 Samuel xix. 18, "A ferry-boat." To 
assert indeed — as not a few take upon them to do 
— that the Hebrew, under that name, is the prim- 
ordial language, argues a degree of thought- 
lessness truly pitiable. Who does not see — the 
Hebrew being called after Heber, and this Heber 



XVlii PREFACE. 



being the great-grandson of Shem — that the Shem- 
etic must be three generations older than the 
Hebrew? Japhet, again, being two years older 
than Shem, does it not follow that the Japhetic 
is that much older? And Noah being the father 
of both, what is the natural inference? The truth 
is, to worship the Hebrew character as sacred, is 
superstition; to worship the Hebrew nation is 
idolatry ; they were a timid, uninfluential handful, 
compared with the Celtic tribes; nor did they ever 
complete even a fine building without their assist- 
ance. Who was the ornamental architect of Solo- 
mon's Temple ? Was it not Father Huram, the 
widow's son, a Tyrian? And who were the 
Tyrians ? Celts under the symbolic or oracular 
appellations of Canaanites or Phoenicians. The 
very alphabet used by Moses, as Dr Murray* 
sufficiently proves, was the Phoenician^ not the 
Hebrew! Our argument is, that they were the 
same, and that, whilst the Hebrew is known to 
have sickened and expired more than two thousand 

* Vide Outlines of Oriental Philology, p. 2. 

t It is perhaps superfluous to note here, that several por- 
tions of the Bible, such as Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Job, &c, 
are in the Chaldea dialect. 



PREFACE. XI* 

years ago, and been buried among the rubbish of 
Rabbinical prejudices, we maintain that both live 
and breathe still, radically and elementarily exa- 
mined, in the great Celtic family. 

To those who have obliged the author with the 
use of their libraries, he begs to return heartfelt 
thanks. He would record their names if he did 
not judge that they themselves would rather 
not. He takes the field, he is aware, against 
Prejudice, confirmed by authority — prejudices 
which those who are wedded to them cannot de- 
fend. Of the truth of his principle, however, 
as an aggregate whole, he is himself convinced to 
the full; therefore, as a moral agent, he considers 
himself answerable only to his God. 

The liberty he takes with the sacred text, he 
takes hesitatingly — more in the spirit of inquiry 
than of correction, and would wish the reader to 
view it in this light. Where he deviates from the 
standards in Celtic orthography, he deviates in- 
tentionally, for the sake of the English reader, to 
whom our Rule of a broad vowel in one syllable 
requiring the next syllable also to begin with a 
broad vowel, and so of the small vowels, might 
prove a stumblingblock. 



XX PREFACE. 

With these prefatory remarks, he throws him- 
self upon the public, again craving indulgence for 
attempting a book in a tongue to which he was 
an utter stranger in early life — a tongue to which, 
indeed, he is not more than reconciled yet, as his 
style may show. So much the better, perhaps, 
for the history of his mother and father language, 
the Celtic. 

The Tongue which god-like heroes spoke, 
Which Oran, Ullin, Ossian sung; 
The Tongue which spurn'd the Roman yoke, 
When thraldom o'er the world was flung ! 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Dedication, ........ iii 

Preface, ......... vii 

CHAPTER I. 

Opinions of Eminent Philologists relative to the Anti- 
quity and consequent Importance of the Celtic Lan- 
guage — Comment thereon by the Author — The British 
and the Celtic compared, &c. . . • .25 

CHAPTER II. 

The Dawn of Human Existence — Man contemplated as 
fresh from the hands of his Maker — Opinions of Emi- 
nent Scholars in favour of the groundwork, . . 62 

CHAPTER III. 

Adam giving Names to Beasts of the Field — These 
Names an Echo or Rehearsal of their Voices severally, 
and still preserved in the Celtic Language and its 
cognate Dialects, and forming important Roots — The 
Hierograms and Theogony of Primitive Ages exa- 
mined and illustrated, 72 



XX11 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Cabala explained — Adam still Naming the Beasts 
of the Field — Serp, Python, Nachs, &c, unveiled — 
Proofs of the great prevalence of Serpent Worship, &c. 107 

CHAPTER V. 

Pagan Divinities further examined — Adam giving Names 
to Fowls, which Names are found to be still Descrip- 
tive, still an Echo or Reflection of their Notes sever- 
ally, and still extant in the Language of the Gael — 
Adam rinding no Help-Mate, sinks into a deep sleep, 13*2 

CHAPTER VI. 

Creation of Eve — Adam awakes and finds Eve — The 
first Nuptials celebrated and sung — Commencement 
of Reciprocal Language — This Language in its Ele- 
mentary Principles still extant in the Celtic — Oriental 
Terms explained, &c 151 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Power and Import of Letters individually considered, 
with ample Exemplifications — Showing each of them 
to be a Natural Root, or Radix, and the Parent of a 
numerous Offspring — Hebrew Roots considered, &c. 176 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Power and Import of Letters individually considered, 
with ample Exemplifications — Continued, . .197 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Power and Import of Letters individually considered, 
with ample Exemplifications — Continued, . .213 



CONTENTS. XX111 

PAGE 

CHAPTER X. 

The Power and Import of Letters individually considered, 
with ample Exemplifications — Concluded, . . 220 

CHAPTER XL 
Conclusion — The Celtic declared of Natural Origin— 
A Sketch of the Celtic Tribes, their Origin and Emi- 
grations, from Christopher Anderson and Edward 
Davies — Several Dialects of the Celtic compared — 
Remarks thereon by the Author — Hints with regard 
to the Heathen Nations, &c, &c 236 

Appendix— Wherein is shown the Advantage a Celtic 
Scholar possesses over others, inasmuch as in course 
of his reading he sees the object or action in the term 
employed, because of the descriptiveness of the lan- 
guage, , 283 



THE 



HISTORY 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 



CHAPTER I. 

<f Inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of 
their fathers : for we are but of yesterday." — Job viii. 8. 

OPINIONS OF EMINENT PHILOLOGISTS RELATIVE TO THE 
ANTIQUITY AND CONSEQUENT IMPORTANCE OF THE 

CELTIC LANGUAGE COMMENT THEREON BY THE 

AUTHOR THE BRITISH AND THE CELTIC COMPARED, 

&C. 

The history of language is the history of thought 
— a picture of the gradual development of mind — 
human nature reflected as in a mirror ; and as such 
it forms an exalted science. It carries us back to 
the infancy of mankind — makes present and past 
ages meet ; and, whilst Truth, in all her divine 
harmony, reveals herself to the admiring student, 
the mind luxuriates in lofty thought — the finer sen- 
sibilities of the soul are brought into play — the 
heart is necessarily being enlarged and liberalized 

B 



26 HISTORY OF THE 

— the affections refined, and the recipient raised in 
the scale of moral being. This can only be true, how- 
ever, of one language ; and that the one which shows 
natural roots — the only lasting materials of a lan- 
guage — roots too so natural as to be identified with 
the efforts of infant humanity in reflecting Nature, 
and in giving ideal life to action and passion. This 
is the only way to the citadel of the judgment, and, 
therefore, the only way to make us sincere worship- 
pers of Truth. The undertaking, we are aware, is 
bold — the task one of no ordinary magnitude: others 
have preceded us in the awful path, and found it 
expedient to stop short. Of all this we are aware : 
but as no performance of man is perfect, and be- 
lieving, as we do, that knowledge, like science, is 
progressive, we trust, by making the discoveries of 
these forerunners subservient, to add our tribute 
also of discovery; as meaner minds, under more 
favourable auspices, have improved upon what a 
Galileo or a Newton alone could have projected. 
We lay no small stress upon the advice of Bildad, 
which we use the freedom to adopt as our motto : 
he would not have Job stop short at the age imme- 
diately preceding him, but sends him to the search 
of their fathers, which must have referred to a 
period long prior to the birth of Moses — ay, to the 
first ages of the world ! 

In an age like this, when the Celtic language is 
under-rated, and when the olive branch of peace is 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 27 

effecting what it defied the sword to accomplish, 
namely, the ejection of those who use that language 
from their native fastnesses, it appears to us not 
unimportant here to submit opinions of eminent 
scholars relative to its character in general. This 
precaution shows our disposition to favour readers 
of short or cripple belief, to whom our grand pro- 
position might prove too high a barrier to leap 
at a bound ; but who, by dividing the ascent into 
stairs, half stairs, and steps, may, if they will, be 
able to accompany us, and see for themselves these 
grand objects, which people grovelling upon gross 
earth never can see — which, indeed, it was never 
intended they should see. 

FIRST WITNESS. 

Moris. Pezron, Abbot of La Charmoye, in France. — 
Vide, "Antiquities of Nations" Paris, 1703. 

u Japhet* was the eldest of Noah's three sons. This 

patriarch's eldest son was Gomer, and next to him Magog 
and Madai. It is certain that Madai was the father of the 
Medes ; the scriptures, and especially the prophets, speak not 
otherwise. Magog is also looked upon to be the origin of 
the Scythians, or people of Great Tartary. Gomer, who was 
the eldest, must, certainly, as well as the rest, be the founder 
of a people, and who could they be but the Gomarians, from 
whom, according to Josephus, the Celtce or Gauls were de- 
scended ? And if Gomer be the true stock of the Gauls, as 

* r& *pht» Prophet of God ? 



28 HISTORY OF THE 

I have already made out by so many proofs and authorities, 
they must needs have a language quite different from other 
people, and that was the Celtic tongue. But to carry this 
name no farther, which indeed properly appertained to no 
other than the European provinces towards the west, it was 
at first the language of the Gomarians in Asia, then of the 
Sacce, afterwards of the Titans, and also of the Cimri or 
Cummerians. After all which, that is a series of many ages, 
it became at last the language of the Celtce, who were better 
known by the name of Gauls. 

" The language, therefore, of the Celtce who fixed in Gaul, 
was, from the first ages of the post-diluvian world, the language 
of the Gomarians, who were seated originally in the higher 
Asia, towards Hircania and Bactriana ; and it is not to be 
doubted but the language of the Gomarians was that of 
Gomer, who was their head and founder ; and if it was the 
language of Gomer, it must necessarily have been one of those 
formed at the confusion of Babel. All these deductions are 
so true, natural, and well pursued, that I cannot see how they 
should be denied. They are supported and confirmed by 
scripture. But let us not rest here ; for we ought to neglect 
nothing for the confirming of a truth which may be contested, 
because it has in a manner continued hitherto concealed and 
unknown. It is certain from what has been offered, that the 
Celtce who extended themselves to the utmost boundaries of 
the west — that is, into Gaul — were the descendants of those 
who anciently bore the name of Titans. Callimachus, who 
flourished in Egypt about 250 years before our Saviour's time, 
was so satisfied with it, that he took delight to recount it, be- 
cause it seemed to tend to the honour of Ptolemy Philadel- 
phus, his hero, and who played them a very ill trick. These 
Celtce (KsXrai) were, according to that author, o^iyovoi Ttmvic, 
Titanum Posteri, or rather Titanum sera posteritas, i. e. the 
posterity, or descendants of the Titans. 

" If these Celtse came from the Titans, it is not to be 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 29 

doubted but they preserved their language as being that of 
their fathers and ancestors, and what I have said before is 
clear proof of it. But I have shown, in treating of those 
princes who ruled over the Titans, that they were the contem- 
poraries of Abraham, and even of his father Terah ; and that 
they were ancienter than the reign of Belus, the father of 
Ninus, and the famous empire of Assyria. 

" Here is antiquity for you, equal with that of the ancient 
patriarchs. But this is not all ; for, before these people, who 
in old times made so much noise in the world, bore the name 
of Titans, they had that of Sacce, under which they perform- 
ed greater things. From these early times, which come up 
almost to the dispersion at Babel and the days of Gomer, the 
Sacce and the Titans spoke the Celtic tongue, as may be seen 
by several words that are still in being, and by the proper 
names of those princes and princesses who ruled over the 
Titans." 

Here have we the result of profound learning and 
research. Abbot Pezron wrote more than one hun- 
dred years ago. He possessed advantages of getting 
at truth which few persons in our age may hope to 
possess ; therefore, we ought to bow to his opinion 
in general. We say in general, because we ourselves 
by no means agree with Mons. Pezron in all his 
deductions and conclusions, "true, natural, and 
well-pursued" as they may be. He calls a halt at 
Babel — a common error — as if " the sons of God" 
had necessarily joined " the children of men" who 
alone suffered in their language, in rearing that 
rebellious tower. Keep we this distinction, which 
the spirit of inspiration has made, in view, and the 



30 HISTORY OF THE 

riddle is solved. Gomer spoke the Celtic. If Go- 
mer, why not his father Japhet ? if Japhet, why not 
his father Noah ? if Noah, who was an ante-diluvian 
when the whole land spoke one language, why not 
Methuselah who was for six hundred years his 
contemporary ? and if Methuselah, why not Adam, 
who, again, was Methuselah's contemporary, and, 
for ought we know, his bosom friend for the space 
of two hundred and forty-eight years ? It is not 
yet time to submit that ri2tP> spt, the thing con- 
founded at Babel was not D>-Q"T 5 dbrim, words, or 
language, but religious sentiment, confession, bap- 
tism, creed. The text is, (Gen. xi.) — And the 
whole land was of one dbrim* (words, sayings,) 
and one spt 9 (sept, faith, priesthood). Now, 
does it say in the sequel, that both these things 
were confounded? No; spt alone, i.e. the sept, pro- 
phecy, faith, or priesthood, according to inspiration, 
was confounded. But in justice to ourselves, as 
well as in deference to the feelings of the timid 
reader, we submit, even at this stage, that the thing 
confounded is the identical thing rendered in Ge- 
nesis xviii. 25, judge ; " Shall not the Judge of all 
the earth do right." In Leviticus xix. 15, judgment; 
" Ye shall do no unrighteousness m judgment." In 
Judges iii. 10, judged; " And he judged Israel." In 

* The Celtic scholar will at once identify this root with 
ahir, to say, to speak, b t r, being radicals. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 31 

1 Samuel viii. 10, judged. In Psalm ix. 19, judged; 
"Let the heathen he judged in thy sight." In 
Proverbs xxix. 9, to contend; "If 'a wise man 
contendeth with a foolish man." In Isaiah lix. 4, 
to plead ; " None calleth for justice nor pleadeth 
for truth." It also constitutes part of the term 
Jehoshaphat, which term is allowed to be resolvable 
into Jehovah, and Judge, or Judgment-of- Jehovah. 
Here it will naturally occur to the reader, Why ren- 
der the Hebrew word speech in one solitary instance, 
and in every other place a matter of judgment or 
opinion? The scriptures were infallibly writ, but 
subject to misconstructions and mistranslations. 
In the history of Paul's voyage, for example, we 
have ayzvoag recGctgGcc, i.e. Agkuras tessaras, ren- 
dered " four anchors." " Then fearing they should 
have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out 
of the stern" Acts xxvii. 29. Calmet says the 
text should have been rendered " the four-fluked 
anchor." Acair teasairg in Celtic means literally the 
safety anchor ! The radicals £, s, r, are sacr ed. With 
regard to whether she would have weathered the 
billows fully as well with her prow to it is another 
question. That there was a confusion of tongues 
no one will doubt, but this was consequent upon 
the affair at Babel. It stood in the same relation 
to the dispersion, as cause does to effect. This is 
not a new doctrine, much less our doctrine. " Will 
the history," says Calmet, " bear the following 



32 HISTORY OF THE 

narration ? Now the inhabitants of all parts were 
of one similar profession in religious matters; but a 
number of persons who had quitted the Noahical 
residence, and journeyed westward, forsook the 
true Deity of their great ancestor, and proposed as 
their metropolis, a city and a tower which should be 
sacred to some heavenly power." We did not, how- 
ever, say this was a solitary instance of this unhappy 
rendering. One other instance at least is Psalm 
lxxxi. 6, where, as Bate justly observes, God is the 
speaker, and the words must be rendered "I heard, 
{not 6 a language I understood not/ but) a religious 
confession, / approved not." 

But allowing a confusion of language, literally 
speaking, to have taken place, it refers only to such 
as were engaged in the tower. Noah was in life, 
and did he head the faithless crew ? No ; he at- 
tends to his vineyard, which he planted far east 
from Shinar. Therefore, take either view of it, the 
first speech still remains unconfounded — the stream 
of language may be still traced without a break up 
to the fountain of paradise ! And here, for the time 
being, drop we the subject. 

That the appellations here introduced by the 
Abbot are descriptive, and resolvable by the 
Cabala, or hieroglyphics, we shall show in proper 
place. To assert, at this stage of the work, that 
they are but different terms expressive of one and 
the same thing — namely, the various religions of 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 33 

this people — would be to dazzle the reader by too 
strong a glare of light, especially if his eyes have 
been much accustomed to darkness. We shall, 
therefore, meanwhile, proceed with the examination 
of other witnesses. 



SECOND WITNESS. 

Opinion of Huddle ston, in his Preface to " Toland's 
History of the Druids"* 

" Early imbued with a competent knowledge of the Greek 
and Roman languages, I imbibed along with them every possi- 
ble prejudice against the Celts. I was from my infancy taught 
to consider them a parcel of de?ni-savages, their language an 
unintelligible jargon, and their boasted antiquity the raving of 
a disordered imagination. 

u Dazzled with the splendour of the classic page, I endea- 
voured to derive every thing from the Greek and Roman 
languages. 

" About 20 years ago, the treatise now offered to the pub- 
lic fell into my hands. I was astonished that it tore up by the 
roots the whole philological system which I had so long held 
sacred and invulnerable. The boasted precedency of the 
Greek and Roman languages now appeared at least doubtful. 

" Determined to probe the matter to the bottom, I devotea 
ray serious attention to the history, antiquities, and language 
of the Celts. The result was that I found it established by 
the most unquestionable authorities, that the Celtic language 
was a dialect of the primary language of Asia ; that the 
Celts were the aboriginal inhabitants of Europe, and that 

* Toland was born in 1670. 
B 2 



34 HISTORY OF THE 

they had among them, from the most remote antiquity, an 
order of Literati named Druids > to whom the Greeks and 
Romans ascribe a degree of philosophical celebrity inferior 
to none of the sages of antiquity. 

'* Nothing has perplexed philologists so much as the affinity, 
or, as it is more commonly called, the intermixture of lan- 
guages. The fact is, the primary language of Asia, or in 
other words, the language of Babel, is the ground-work of the 
whole ; and all of them retain stronger or fainter marks of 
affinity in proportion as they are primary, intermediate, or 
more remote branches of this primary root. 

" Of all the phenomena of language, the most remarkable 
is the affinity of the Celtic and Sanscrit — two languages which 
cannot possibly have come iu contact for more than three 
thousand years, and must, therefore, owe their similarity to 
the radical tincture of the primary language of Asia. 

" That the Celtic is a dialect of the primary language of 
Asia, has received the sanction of that celebrated philologist, 
the late Professor Murray, in his prospectus to the Philosophy 
of Language. That the Celts were the aborigines of Europe 
and their language the aboriginal one, even Pinkerton himself 
is obliged to admit. 

" It is a point on all hands conceded, that neither colonies 
nor conquerors can annihilate the aboriginal language of a 
country. So true is this, that even at the present day, the 
Celtic names, still existing over the greater part of Europe, 
and even in Asia itself, afford sufficient data whereby to 
determine the prevalence of the Celtic language, the wide 
extent of their ancient territories, and their progress from 
east to west. 

*• The Roman language unquestionably derives its affinity 
to the Sanscrit, through the medium of the Celtic ; and to 
any one who pays minute attention to the subject, it 
will appear self evident that the Doric dialect of the Greek, 
founded on the Celtic, laid the foundation of the language of 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 35 

Rome. The Gothic, over the whole extent of Germany, 
and the greater part of Britain and Ireland ; the Phcenicia?i 9 
or Moorish, in Spain, &c, &c., are all of them merely recent 
superinductions, ingrafted on the Celtic — the aboriginal root. 
The Roman language Gothicized, produced the Italian. The 
Celtic in Gaul, with a mixture of rustic Roman, and Gothicized, 
produced the French. The old British, (a dialect of the 
Celtic) Saxonized, produced the English, &c. Whoever 
would rear a philological system radically sound, must, there- 
fore, commence with the Celtic ; otherwise he will derive the 
cause from the effect — the root from the branches." 

There are enow in the world of like mind with Mr 
Huddleston. It were well would they make proper 
use of his after experience. Professor Murray, 
here referred to, certainly paid a compliment to the 
Celtic : he not only proves it a dialect of the primary 
language of Asia, but he also says that without it 
one cannot possibly make progress in philology ; 
but, in our humble opinion, he paid the reverse 
of a compliment to the judgment of his readers 
when he asserts that " Ag, Bag, Dag, Gag, Hag, 
Mag, Nag, Rag, Sag, are the foundations of lan- 
guage !" See vol. ii. p. 32. Upon what principle 
can these be made the foundation of languages ? 
What were the other vowels given us for, if we are 
ever to dwell upon the sound a ? Does Nature 
utter no more than one monotonous note ? Has she 
but one string to her magnificent harp ? The as- 
sertion may dazzle, but never can approve itself to 
the judgment. We shall not now wait to apply a 



36 HISTORY OF THE 

lever to dislodge it; it will melt away before the 
rays of truth and common sense, and ere we have 
done, be no more tangible. 

Mr Huddleston himself, like many others, stum- 
bles upon the confusion of Babel, as well as upon 
the unphilosophical notion of language being the 
result of immediate inspiration ! If by inspiration 
any person means the potver of making a language 
— the gift of o?iomatopceia — of reflecting sound — 
of mimicking action — of employing metaphor — of 
giving articulate expression to our sensations — of 
shuffling our feet to music — and of assuming this 
or that attitude at pleasure, that person and we are 
agreed : but if any person mean by the term inspir- 
ation, that primitive man, the first day of his exis- 
tence, was inflated, (for that is the primary idea of 
the term inspiration) and then and there endowed 
with the entire of his nomenclature — that he got 
then and there a vocabulary of sounds without ideas 
breathed into him, that person and we, be he whom 
he may, are not agreed. Language is a creation ever 
progressing and ever decaying, as we shall very soon 
attempt to make plain. Which would be the 
greater miracle ? — which would be the easier, for 
our progenitor to tax his memory in one day with 
a thousand terms of which the idea was future 
and to learn ; or, to endow him with the requisite 
powers to make them as necessity prompted ? 
Mankind is not an inapt emblem of our idea of 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 37 

language. We are traceable to two individuals, 
Adam and Eve ; but by gradual procreation we 
have branched into a "number almost without num- 
ber," assuming in our progress peculiar shades, 
grades, and habits. Nor is a tree perhaps a bad 
comparison : it shoots from a single germ or root 
— it branches every year — you may engraft it and 
transplant it, till perhaps, through time, it gives 
you enough to do to dentify it; still its primary 
root indicates the genus, and that root must grow 
out of Nature. 

We are aware it will be urged against us here, 
the freedom with which the serpent converses with 
the woman, and the fluency with which the woman 
converses with the serpent and with her Maker. 
Without at all resorting to Eastern allegory, which 
our greatest divines admit, # we answer, we bow 

* " We have the assurance of Bishop Horsley," says the 
reflectful Coleridge, " that the Church of England does not 
demand the literal understanding of the document contained 
in the second (from verse 8) and third Chapters of Genesis 
as a point of faith, or regard a different interpretation as 
affecting the orthodoxy of the interpreter : divines of the most 
unimpeachable orthodoxy, and the most averse to the allego- 
rizing of scripture history in general, having from the earliest 
ages of the Christian Church adopted or permitted it in this 
instance. And, indeed, no unprejudiced man can pretend to 
doubt, that if in any other work of Eastern origin he met 
with trees of life and of knowledge ; or talking and convers- 
able snakes : 

Inque rei signum serpentem serperejussum ; 



38 HISTORY OF THE 

to inspiration in/act — in substance — in truth ; not 
to bona fide words employed to convey the narra- 
tive to us, in condescension to our lame and limited 
capacities. Instruction must be conveyed in an in- 
telligible form — to that person in Greek, to this in 
French, to us in Celtic, and so on. We shall see, 
by and by, in demonstration of this, that the 
exclamation est! is properly translated, "hold 
thy peace ;" and ba I ba ! an exclamation of fear, 
rendered, also most properly, " great destruction." 
We are too apt to forget that man was at first 
naked, and too apt to make the trappings and panoply 
of a warrior of the nineteenth century a model of 
the first man-slayer's armour ! So much for Mr 
Huddleston. 



he would want no other proofs that it was an allegory he was 
reading, and intended to be understood as such. Nor, if we 
suppose him conversant with Oriental works of any thing like 
the same antiquity, could it surprise him to find events of true 
history in connexion with, or historical personages among 

the actors and interlocutors of, the parable But, 

perhaps, parables, allegories, and allegorical or typical appli- 
cations, are incompatible with inspired scripture ! The 
writings of St Paul are sufficient proof of the contrary." — 
Aids to Reflection, p. 190. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 39 



THIRD WITNESS. 

Opinion of J. C. Prichard, M.D., F.R.S., 31.R.S.A., 

— Vide, " The Eastern Origin of Celtic Nations" 

" We have remarked above that there is historical 

proof of the connexion of the Sclavonic, German, and Peles- 
gian races, with the ancient Asiatic nations. Now, the lan- 
guage of these races and the Celtic, although differing much 
from each other, and constituting the four principal depart- 
ments of dialects which prevail in Europe, are yet so far allied 
in their radical elements that we may with certainty pronounce 
them to be branches of the same original stock. The resem- 
blance is remarkable in the general structure of speech, and in 
those parts of the vocabulary which must be supposed to be 
the most ancient, as in words descriptive of common objects 
and feelings, for which expressive terms existed in the primi- 
tive ages of society. We must, therefore, infer, that the 
nations to whom these languages belonged, emigrated from the 
same quarter. 

" It will more evidently appear, if I am not mistaken, that 
from the Celtic dialects, a part of the grammatical inflections, 
and that a very important part, common to the Sanscrit, the 
JEolic Greek, the Latin, and the Teutonic languages are 
capable of an elucidation which they have never yet received" 

The Greek student will do well to read this 
testimony over again, and, if he be judicious to 
himself, contemplate the respectability of the au- 
thority. 



40 HISTORY OF THE 



FOURTH WITNESS. 

Opinion of Br H. Blair — Vide, " Lectures on Rhetoric 
and the Belles Lettres." 

" It is not to be doubted but the Celtic language 

was the language of the first inhabitants of Britain. It is the 
oldest language perhaps in the world. It was the language 
of Ireland, of Scotland, of England, of Spain, and France 
for many generations, although now confined to the mountains 
of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, and to Bas-Breton in 
France."* 

Dr Blair was not a Celtic scholar, else he would 
have penetrated farther. The reader, we trust, will 
not grudge to follow him so far as he does go, — we 
shall draw upon this Professor for richer gems by 
and by. 

FIFTH WITNESS. 

Opinion of Professor Napier. — Vide, Encyclopedia 
Britannica, under the word Language. 

u The Celtic family forms a very extensive and very interest- 
ing subdivision of the Indo-European class. ..... The Celts 

may be imagined to have emigrated from Asia after the Ibe- 
rians or Cantatrians, and before the Thracians or Pelesgians, 

* If our quotations are not verbatim, we hope they will 
be found at least substantially correct, Unable to command 
now all the books we had when writing the Gaelic edition, 
we are in some instances obliged to translate. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 41 

settling principally in Gaul, and spreading partly into Italy 
under the name of Ausonians and Umbrians. 

" In 570, before Christ, they undertook expeditions for the 
purposes of conquest, but they were subdued by the Romans. 
Their language was current in Gaul till the sixth or seventh 
century, when it was superseded by the rustic Roman, which 
by degrees became French. In Ireland and Scotland it has 
remained with few alterations ; in Wales and Brittany it has 
been more mixed. 

" The Gauls must have peopled Britain at least as early as 
500 years before Christ The true ancient Britons are the 
Highlanders of Scotland only ; they still call their language 

Gaelic The Etruscans and Umbrians were originally 

a branch of the Celts from Rhaetia, as is shown by the simi- 
larity of the names of places in those countries, as well as by 
the remains of Etruscan art found in that part of the Tyrol ; 
they are supposed to have entered Italy through Trent, about 
the year 1000 before Christ." 

This is powerful and quite to the point. But it 
is a pity to see the learned Professor groping his 
way at noon, and that from want of a more perfect 
knowledge of the Celtic. The most of the names 
here enumerated are mere local distinctions and 
transpositions, resolvable by the Celtic into one 
great whole, as we shall attempt to establish ere 
we have done. 

The golden key to them, it is true, is the Cabala 
in connexion with the solar worship with its varied 
hierograms, or symbols, of which anon. 



42 HISTORY OF THE 



SIXTH WITNESS. 



Opinion of the Rev. Dr Malcome, of Duddingston 

Vide, " Letters and Essays" London, 1744. 

" The ancient Scottish or Irish is a most valuable dialect 
of the Celtic, and besides its internal beauties, is of incredible 
use to illustrate the antiquities, languages, laws, 8fc, of many- 
other nations ; more especially those of Italy, Greece, Pales- 
tine, or Canaan, besides other places of Asia, Europe, Africa, 
and America. 

This is a bold, a sweeping assertion ; yet, here 
is a sedate divine, in hearty sincerity, pronouncing 
the Celtic the key to the " antiquities, languages, 
and laws" of the entire of our globe ! Nor is the 
assertion gratuitous; he demonstrates it in the 
sequel of his rare work. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 



43 




ri-S 



S -S a 
© £ 3 

© aJ S 5 * 

** S CO f 

«*- S as i- 
© © o g 

■ S 9 & 

ee a 3 2 

ea sis s 

" as -a -© 

• Si "* ^ *»3 

^ TS *a "rs © 

©,© c2° 
• . © _ c8 © as 

"'ill 



§ 






$*~* m «!» 



' a ^o . s 



03 CS £ 



© gs ** 

QtH r-V C8 f© 



'S .H ^ © a ? .5 ■ 

5 fc 3 2 * £w 

'O r»2 *3 E cd a *a .£ a 
c .2 -5 « -s S 2 .5 « ' 

a^ S^-ofl^'gS £U 




es 03 •- b£q- "^3 ^ a © ™ a * 
a a - - .^g.o © * a 



44 HISTORY OF THE 

Here we are again introduced to a catalogue of 
languages, many of them differing in nothing but 
in name. The Shemetic and Japhetic, the one 
called after Shem, and the other after his brother 
Japhet, differed not even in name till within these 
few centuries past. But why put the Shemetic 
and Japhetic before the Noahtic? Was Noah 
not the father of both ? Did he not teach them his 
own language when infants? and had they any 
other language in the Ark ? No. These men all 
spoke the ante-diluvian — the primitive language 
before and after the flood ; the only problem which 
remains to be solved, therefore, is, were all these 
engaged at the building of Babel after the flood, 
and was their language, without exception, con- 
founded, and to what extent? If in any one instance 
the language of this family escaped the confusion — 
granting the thing confounded to have been lan- 
guage — we have an unbroken chain, and may add 
upon the same principle of multiplying languages 
the Methuselahmic and the Adamic ? 

The cluster of languages here indicated " as not 
now spoken," were, at one period, one and the 
same — the names are expressive of the solar wor- 
ship ; and the variety occasioned by the transposi- 
tion of the Cabala, or sacred characters, of which 
anon. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 45 



EIGHTH WITNESS. 



From the "Ancient Universal History" Vol. xiv.. 
a.d. 170. 

" The Gauls were certainly descended from the Celts or 
Gomarians, or to speak more properly, were the same people 
under a different and more modern name, whilst they still re- 
tained their primitive one of Gomerai, or descendants of 

Gomer Berosius and his followers maintain that Go- 

mer's sons settled themselves in several parts of Spain and 
Italy so early as 142 years after the flood." * 

Here we have the Celts again landed at Gomer' s 
door. If at Gomer's, why not, as we have already 
asked, at his father's, Japhet, an ante-diluvian — an 
anti-Babelite — and, consequently, an inheritor of 
the primeval language ? 

NINTH WITNESS. 

Opinion of Henry O'Brien, Esq. A. B Vide, " The 

Bound Towers of Ireland" Dublin, 1834. 

11 In the Irish language which, as being that of ancient 
Persia, ox Iran, must be the oldest in the world, and of which 
the Hebrew brought away by Abraham from Ur (Aur) of the 
Chaldees, is but a distant imperfect branch — in this primordial 
tongue — the nursery at once of science, of religion, and of 
philosophy ; all mysteries also have been matured," &c. 

To what extent this is true we shall endeavour 



46 HISTORY OF THE 

to show when we come to treat of Egypt, the cradle 
at once of religion and of science. 

Mr O'Brien is now no more — he fought a good 
battle — his work is a treat of eloquence and learn- 
ing, but he took his premises in their secondary, or 
consequential sense ; and, therefore, his conclusions 
fail to convince. His round towers w r ere decidedly 
religious towers, but the primary idea is not the 
lignum, but the column of the Nile ; the orrery of 
our Chaldean and Egyptian fathers — and by analogy 
and convention, the sun — the God of the sun — 
fecundity, &c. Their very name, teampul greine, 
i.e. temple of the sun, proves this ; as also the ap- 
pellation of their builders, Tauth, or Tauthde- 
danaans, which is equivalent to Tau 9 Taut, Teuth, 
Tit, i.e. the Anubus, or barker-worshippers, of 
whom Teutones, Titans, &c, &c. 

TENTH WITNESS. 

Opinion of the learned and venerable Bishop Fuller. 
— See his " Church History of Britain" vol. I. p. 65. 
London, 1655. 

" Only allow me to insert a line or two in commendation of 
the British tongue,* and vindication thereof, against such as 

* The term British is a religious one, or, if the reader pre- 
fer it, a pagan term, having its root in the Cabalistical radicals 
b, r 9 t. That the learned Bishop and we are pleading for the 
same language under different names, let the following com- 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 



47 



causelessly traduce it. First, their language is native. It was 
one of those which departed from Babel ; and herein is re- 
lated to God, as the more immediate author thereof ; whereas 
most tongues in Europe owe their beginning to humane De- 



parison from the pen of our friend Mr James Munro, author of 
the "Gaelic Primer" and "Gaelic Grammar,'''' demonstrate. 



British, or Welsh, and English. 

Aber, confluence 

Aberth, sacrifice 

Achar, affectionate 

Achwyn, a complaint 

Ad, re. again 

Adef, belief 

Aer, slaughter 

Afal, an apple 

Afon, a river 

Aich, a scream 

Aill, other 

Ais, a want 

Al, a brood 

Alaf, expert 

Ailiw, saliva 

Alp, a cliff 

Allda, a foreigner 

Allt, a cliff 

Amryson, contention 

Amser, time 

Anaf, a blemish 

Anal, breath 

Annedd, a dwelling 

Anrhaith, distress 

Arddrews, lintel 

Asen, a rib 

Au, the liver 

Aur, gold, firmament 

Awr, an hour 

Bach, a hook, grapple 

Bad, m. a boat 

Bagud, m. a cluster 

Bale, m. a balk 

Ballasg, m. a husk 

Banc, m. a table 

Bar, m. top, tupt 

Bawdd, m. a drowning 

Bedw, m. birch 

Benw,/. a woman 

Benywawl, a. female 

Ber,/. a pike, spit 



Gaelic and English. 
abar, confluence 
iobairt, sacrifice 
acarra, affectionate 
achain, a beseeching 
ath, re, again 
aidich, confess 
ar, slaughter 
abhal, apple tree 
abhoinn, river 
oich, a roar 
eile, other 

ais, want, hinderance 
al, a brood 
ealabh, active 
seill, saliva 
ailp, cliff 

allda, foreign, wild 
eilte, a precipice 
iorareason, contention 
aimser, time, weather 
ainneamh, a fault 
anail, breath 
ionad, a locality 
anrath, distress 
ardorus, door-lintel 
aisinn, a rib 
a, iith, the liver 
or, gold, aur, firmament 
uair, an hour 
bachd, a notch, crook 
bata, m. a boat 
bagaid, m. a cluster 
baile,/. a balk 
plaosg, m. a husk 
being,/, a bench 
barr, m. top, crop 
bathadh, m. a drowning 
beithe, m. birch 
bean,/, a wife 
banail, a. feminine 
bior, m. a spit, stal 



48 



HISTORY OF THE 



praving of some Original Language. Thus the Italian, 
Spanish and French, Daughters, or Neeces to the Latine, 
are generated from the Corruption thereof. 

" Secondly, Unmixed ; for though it hath some few forrain 



British, or Welsh, and English. 

Beran,/. a little spit 

Berth, m. perfection 

Berthawg, wealthy 

Bidawg, /. a hanger 

Bias, m. taste 

Blawn, bloneg, m. fat 

Blisg, shells, husks 

Blith, m. milk 

Blodau, flowers 

Bloedd,/. a shout 

Blynedd, /. a year 

Bola, m % a belly 

Bolgan,/. a budget 

Bon, m. a base 

Bost, m, a boast 

Botas, m. a boot 

Bradwr, m. a traitor 

Braen, corrupt 

Brag, m. malt 

Bram,/. a *latus 

Brat, m. a clout, &c. 

Brech,/. a pox 

Bretyn, m. a little rag 

Breithell,/. a conflict 

Bron, /. a breast 

Bru, m. the womb 

Brwch, m. a ferment 

Brysg, quick 

Bual, m. a wild ox 

Eu, m. kine 

Bugail, a herdsman 

Burym, 772. yeast 

Bus,/, a lip 

Bwlg, m, bulky round body 

Bwsaird, a burgess 

Bwth, a booth 

Bwthyn, a small cabin 

Bwyd, m. food 

Byddar, deaf 

Byddin,/. a troop 

Byl, wi. a brim 

Caban, m. a booth 

Cach, m. ordure 

Cad,/, a battle 



Gaelic and English. 
bioran, m. a small stick, &c. 
beairt, /. an engine 
beairteach, rich 
biodag, /. a dirk 
bias, m. taste 
blonag,/. fat 
plaoisg, husks 
bliochd, m. milk 
bladha, blooms 
blaodh, m. a cry 
bliadhna,/. a year 
bolla, 7W. a belly 
bolgan, 772. a small skin bag 
bonn, 772. a sole, base 
bosd, m. pride, bragging 
botais, 772. boots 
brathadair, 772. a traitor 
breun, rotten 
braich,/. malt 
bram, m. a flatus 
brat, 772. cover, counterpane 
breac,/. smallpox 
breidean, tti. a bit of cloth, patch 
breathal, m. confusion 
broinne,/. abreast 
bru,/. a womb, belly 
bruich, v. ferment, boil 
brisg, active, smart 
buabhal, buffalo, unicorn 
bo,/, a cow 
buachaille, a herdsman 
beirm,/. barm 

bus, 772. a pant, mouth of a dog, &c. 
bulg, 772. a bulk, swell, bulge 
burdaiseach, a burgess 
buth, a booth, tent 
buthan, a small hut 
boit, 772. bait 
bodhar, deaf 
buidhionn, a band 
bile, 772. brim, edge 
caban, 772. a cabin 
cac, ?72. ordure 
cath, 772. a battle 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 



49 



Words, and useth them sometimes ; yet she rather accepteth 
them out of State, than borroweth them out of need, as having 
besides these, other words of her own to express the same 
things. 



British^ or Welsh , and English. 

Cadair,/. a seat 

Cader,/. a hilifort 

Cadfarch, m. a warehouse 

Caib,/. a mattock 

Cain, clear, fair 

Cair, berries 

Cala, /. a prickle 

Cam, m. a step 

Cam, crooked 

Caraawg,/. a curve 

Can, because 

Cantawr, m. a songster 

Cann, v. sing 

Car, near 

Carun,/. crown of the head 

Caredeg, beloved 

Cam, m. a heap 

Carthu, to scour 

Cat, m. bit, piece 

Cathyl,/. a melody 

Cawad,/. a shower 

Cawell, m. a basket 

Cawl, m. cabbage, pottage 

Cawr, a mighty man 

Caws, m. cheese 

Ceber, /. a rafter 

Ced, /. relief 

Ceden,/. nap 

Ceg,/. an opening 

Ceiliowg, a cock, 

Ceimwch, m. a lobster 

Ceingel,/. a hank 

Ceirch, m. oats 

Celff, m. a pillar 

Celt, m. a cover 

Celu, m. to hide 

Celyn, m. holly 

Cell,/, a grove 

Cenal,/. a tribe 

Cenglyn, m. a tie 

Cerbyd, m. a charter - 

Cerdd, /. craft 

Ceubal,,\»w. a ferry-boat 



Gaelic and English. 
caithir,/. a town 
cathair,/. a chair 
cath.mharc, m. a warehouse 
caibe, m. a spade, &c. 
caoin, soft, fair, sweet 
caoran, berries 
calg, m. awl, prickle 
ceum, m. a step 
cam, crooked 
camag,/. a curl, &c. 
chionn, because 
canadair, m. a singer 
can, v. sing, recite 
gar, near 

cirean, m. comb, crest, top 
cairdeach, akin, related to 
cam, m. a heap, cairn 
cart, v. to clean out a byre, &c. 
caid,/. a part, portion 
cedl, ?w. music 
cathadh, ml drift 

cabhail,/. a basket for catching fish 
cal, m. kale, pottage 
Cath.fhear, a warrior 
caise, in. cheese 
cabar, m. rafter 
cead,/. leave 
caitean, m. shag 
gag,/, a chap 
coileoch, a cock 
giomach,7?2. a lobster 
ceangal, m. a tie 
coirce, m. oats 
colbh, w. a column 
ceilte,/. concealment 
ceil, to hide 
cuileann, m. holly 
cill,/ a burying ground 
cineal, a clan 
ceanglan, m % a tie 
carbad, m. a charter 
ceird, /. trade 
cobal, m. a coble 



50 



HISTORY OF THE 



" Thirdly, Unaltered ; Other Tongues are daily disguised 
with forrain Words, so that in a Century of years, they grow 
strangers to themselves : as now an Englishman needs an In- 
terpreter to understand Chaucer's English. But the British 



British, or Welsh, and English. 

Ceufa,/. a gulf 

Ci, m. a dog 

Cig, m. flesh 

Cist,/, a chest 

Cladd, m. a trench 

Cladder, to dig 

Clawd, m. a patch 

Clawr, m. a cover 

Clecai,/. a clack er 

Cleddyf, m. a sword 

Cler, minstrels 

Clog, m. a large stone 

Clorian, a pair of scales 

Cloryn, m. a small cover 

Clust,/. an ear 

Clustog,/. a pillion 

Clwe, m. a clucking 

Cnap, m. a knob 

Cnau, nuts 

Cnec,/. a snap 

Cnif, m. toil 

Cnoc, m. a rap 

Cnoi, to gnaw 

Cnwc, m. a bump 

Coeg, empty 

Coes, /. a foot, shank 

Cog,/, a cuckoo 

Cogel, m. a distaff 

Colof, m. a prop 

Colwyn, m. a cub 

Coll, m. lass 

Cop, m. a top 

Corach, m. a dwarf 

Corf, m. a body 

Corlan,/. a sheep- fold 

Corn, m. a horn 

Coron,/. a crown 

Crai, m. a heart 

Craig,/, a rock 

Cram,/, an incrustation 

Crin, niggard 

Croen, m. a skin 

Croes,/. a cross 



Crfleft'c and English. 
geobha, m. a bay 
cu, #2. a dog 
ceig,/. flesh 
ciste, /. a chest 
clais,/. a furrow 
cladhaich, to dig 
clabht, m. a patch 
clar, m. a lid 
glaige,/. chat 
claidheamh, m. a sword 
cleir, cliar, minstrels 
cloch,/. a stone 
clair, scales, &c. 
claran, m. a small cover 
claist, v. hark 
cluasag,/. a pillion 
gliug, m. a clucking 
cnap, m. a lump 
cn6,/. a nut 
cnag,/. a fillip 
gniomh, m. work 
gnoc, w. a rap 
cnamh, to digest 
cnuac, m. a lump 
caoch, void 
cos,/, a foot 
cuag,/. a cuckoo 
cuigeal,/. a distaff 
colbh, m. a pillar 
cuilean, w. a pup 
call, #2. lass 
cop, m. a summit 
garach, a dwarf 
corp, #2. a body 
caorlan, a sheep-fold 
cbrn, vi. a horn cup 
coron, m. a crown 
cridhe, m. a heart 
crag,/, a rock 
craim, m. a scab 
crion, small, pinched 
craicionn, m. skin 
crois,/. across 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 



51 



continues so constant to itself, that the prophecies of old 
Taliesin — who lived about a thousand years since — are at this 
day intelligible in that Tongue. 

" Lastly, Durable ; which had its beginning at the Confu- 



British, or Welsh , and English. 

Crogi, to hang 

Crom, bowed 

Cron, round 

Crug, m. a heap 

Cm, a curve 

Crwth, m. a crowd or violin 

Craybwch, shrunk 

Cryd, a quake 

Cryman, m. a reaping hook 

Crysia, to hasten 

Cub, m. a mass 

Cul, narrow 

Cunnawg, a milk pail 

Curiad, a pining 

Cwpan, /. a cup 

Cwr, m. a corner 

Cwran,/. a buskin 

Cwrwg, a boat 

Cwta, curt 

Cwynaw, to complain 

Cwyr, m. wax 

Cwysed,/. a gore 

Cyfar, m. a front 

Cyfarth, a bark 

Cyfyng, narrow 

Cyhafal, similar 

Cyhyd, equally long 

Cylla, m. a maw 

Cymhwys, of equal weight 

Cymmer, m. a confluence 

Cyrames, m. mediocrity 

Cymmwynas,/. a good turn 

Cymun, m. a communion 

Cyn, first, chief 

Cyn, m. a wedge 

Cynaber, m. head of a stream 

Cynan, ?n. faculty of speech 

Cynfardd, a primitive bard 

Cynllwyd, hoar-headed 

Cyrchell,/. what surrounds 

Cyrnen,/. a cone 

Cyun, accordant 

Daear,/. earth 



Gaelic and English. 
croch, to hang 
crom, crooked 
cruinn, round 
cruach,/. a stack 
cru, m. a horse shoe 
cruit,/. a musical instrument 
crupach, shrunken 
crith,/. a shivering 
croman, m. any thing bent 
greas, to hasten 
caob, m. a mass 
caol, small 
cuinneag, a pail 
cuarade, a paining 
cupan, m. a cup 
curr, m. a. corner 
cuaran, m. a sandal 
curach, a coracle 
cutach, short 
caoin, to lament, weep 
ceir,/. wax 
guiseid,/. a gusset 
comhair,/. a being opposite 
comhart, a barking, yelping 
cubhann, narrow 
co-shamhuil, similar 
coif had, of equal length 
goile, m. a stomach 
co-thomhas, equal weight 
comar, m. a confluence 
cuimse,/. moderation 
comaineas, m. an obligation 
comunn, m. a society 
ceann, m. head, chief 
geinn, m. a wedge 
ceann. thobar, m. a head-spring 
canan, m. a language 
ceann-bhard, a chief bard 
ceann-liath, grey-headed 
cearcal, m. a hoop 
cuirnean, m. a dew drop 
co.aon, accordant 
tir,/. land 



52 



HISTORY OF THE 



si on of Tongues, and is likely not to have its Ending till the 
Dissolution of the World. 

" Some indeed inveigh against it, as being hard to be pro- 
nounced, having a conflux of many Consonants, and some of 



British, or Welsh, and English. 

Daif, m. a singe 

Dail, leaves 

Dal, m. a stop 

Dall, blind 

Dalian, m. a blind, over 

Dim, m. a charm 

D&r, m. an oak 

Daren, m. a noise 

Darn, m. a piece 

Darogan, to predict 

Das, m. a heap J 

Dau, m. two 

Deau, right 

Didylliaw, to suckle 

Deg, m. ten 

Degwm, m. a tenth 

Deheulaw,/. the right hand 

Delw,/. an image 

Delli, m. blindness 

Demyl m. an outskirt 

Deil, to come 

Dial, to avenge 

D61,/. a noose 

Draen, m. a thorn 

Draig,/. lightning 

Drel, m. a clown 

Dreng, morose 

Drengyn, m. a surly fellow 

Drwg, evil, bad 

Drych, m. aspect 

Du, black 

Duad, blacking 

Duawg, blackish 

Duder, gloom 

Dulas, blackish blue 

Dulyn, melancholy j 

Durew, black frost 

Duw, God 

Dwn, dun, dusky 

Dwr, m. water 

Dwy, m. order, rule 

Dwyeg, milk 

Dyddym, m. mere nothing 

Dygen, grudge 



Gaelic and English. 
dath, to singe 
duille, a leaf 
dail, /. delay 
dall, blind 

dallan, m. a blind, over 
dan, m. fate 
doire, m. an oak grove 
torunn, m. thunder 
dbrn, m. a piece 
taragrair, to predict 
dais, a moor 
da, dd, two 
deadh, right 
deobhail, to suck 
ddug, ten 
deachamh, a tithe 
deas-lamh, right hand 
dealbh, an image 
daille, blindness 
iomal, a confine 
te, (thig), come 
dlol, to avenge 
dul, a noose 
dreathun, thorn 
dreug, dring, a meteor 
droll, a clown 
drean, grim 
driongan, a surly one 
drach, bad, evil 
dreach, aspect 
du, dubh, black 
dubhadh, blacking 
dubhach, sad 
duathar, duohur, shade 
dughlas, grey black 
leann-dubh, melancholy 
du-reothadh, black frost 
Dia, God 
donn, brown 
dobhar, water 
dbigh, way, mode 
duliath, spleen 
dadum, a mere nothing 
dighoan, gloom, sulk* 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 



53 



them double sounded, yea, whereas the Mouth wherein the 
Office of Speech is generally kept, the British must be uttered 
through the Throat, But this rather argues the Antiquity 
thereof. Some also cavil that it grates and tortures the eares 



British, or Welsh, and English. 

Dyl, due, debt 

Dylan, m. ocean 

Dyledswydd, duty 

Dylusg, wrack 

Dyn, m. a man 

Dynawl, human 

Dyndawd, humanity 

Dyres, stairs 

Dyrnu, to box 

Dyrys, intricate 

Dysgad, instruction 

Dyspaddu, to castrate 

Dyw, a day 

Edaf,/. thread 

Edwedd, state of decay 

Efel, similar 

Efely, so 

Egoriad, a key 

Egyr, sharp 

Eiddew, ivy 

Eiddig, a jealous one 

Eilon, a hart 

Eingion, an anvil 

Eira, m. snow 

Eirif, m. a number 

.Eison,/. a rib 

Eisiw, want 

Eiswng, a sob 

Elaig, a minstrel 

Elestren, flag 

Elin, an elbow 

Elwch, a shout of joy 

Elyf, gliding 

Ellt, that is parted off 

Ellyn, a razor 

Emyl, a border 

Enfawr, huge 

Enllyn, victuals, meat 

Enw, m. a name 

Engyl, fire 

Er, for, because 

Erch, dusky 

Erglyn, a listening 



Gaelic and English. 
diol, due, portion 
dilinn, flood 
dleasnas, duty 
duileasg, dulse 
duine, a man 
duineil, manly 
daondachd, humanity 
direadh, an ascent 
dbrn, v. to cuff 
dorras, difficulty 
teagasg, teaching 
spoth, to castrate 
diugh, to-day 
eidiah, a web of yarn 
eiteach, consumption 
amhail, like 
amhluidh, so 
euchair, eochair, a key 
geur, sharp 
eidheann, ivy 
eudaiche, a jealous person 
eiled, a hind 
innein, an anvil 
eire, hard frost 
aireamh,/. a number 
aisne,/. a rib 
easbhuidh, need 
osunn,/. a sigh 
ealaidh,/. a poem, song 
seilisteir, m. a flag 
uilionn,/. an elbow 
iolach,/. a shout 
ealamh, quick 
alt, a joint 
ealtuinn, a razor 
iomal, a border 
anmhor, very great 
aileann, kitchen 
ainm, m. a name 
aingeal, fire 
oir, for, because 
dorch, dark 
farchluais, a listening 



54 



HISTORY OF THE 



of Hearers with the Harshnesse thereof: whereas indeed it is 
unpleasant only to such as are Ignorant of it. And thus every 
Tongue seems Stammering, which is not understood ; yea 
Greek itself is Barbarisme to Barbarians. Besides what is 



British, or Welsh, and English. 

Erth, an effort 

Erwyn, very white 

Eryl, a watch, look 

Esgaidd, nimbler 

Esgarr, a foe 

Esgori, to quit 

Eurafal, an orange 

Ffael, a failing 

Ffaeth, rich 

Ffair, an eminence 

Ffal, closure 

Ffaling, a mantle 

Ffals, deceitful 

Ffan, top 

Ffanygyl, protection 

Fflasg, a bundle 

Ffan, a den 

Ffei, begone ! 

Fferf, solid, firm 

Ffill, a twist 

Ffoad, a fleeing 

Fforiad, an exploration 

Ffresg, active 

Ffridd, a forest 

Ffrwch, a violent eruption 

Ffrystell, hurley burley 

Ffust,/. a flail 

Ffwd, quick motion 
Ffwlach, m. refuse 
Ffyef, firm, steady 

Gad, leave 

Gafael, a hold, grasp 

Gaflach the stride 

Gafyr,/. a goat 

Gag, an aperture 

Gal, a foe 

Galan, corpse 

Galar, grief 

Galeg, the Gaulish tongue 

Galw, a call 

Garm, a shout 

Garw, rough 

Gast /. a bitch 



Gaelic and English. 
neart, strength 
f ir-bhan, very white 
earail, watch, alert 
easgaidh, ready, alert 
as-sgar, an enemy 
eascar, to sist, cease 
dr-abhal, a golden apple 
failiun, a fault 
meath, rich, fat 
faire, an eminence 
fal, turf, coping 
fallung, a cloak 
feallsa, false 
fan, mhan, height 
fanagladh, protection 
fasg, a bundle 
faobhaidh, a den 
fuith, off! fie! 
foirfe, firm, of age, mature 
fill, to fold, wrap 
fuadach, a rout 
forradh, forraging 
brisg, alert, active 
frith,/, a forest 
bruchd, a belch 
briotal, quick talk 
suiste, m. a flail 
saod, glee, activity 
fuighleach, m. refuse 
fuirbe, foirfe, adult, strong 
cead, leave 

gabhal, a taking, seizing 
gablach, forked, angular 
gabhar,/. a goat 
gag,/, a chap 
gall, a foe 
colainn, body 
gal, weeping 
gailig, Gaelic 
glaodh, a call 
gairm, a cry 
garbh, rough 
gasradh, bitching 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 



55 



nicknamed Harshness therein, maketh it indeed more full, 
stately, and masculine. But such is the Epicurisme of Modern 
Times, to addulce all Words to the Eare, that (as in the 
French) they melt out in pronouncing, many essential Letters.. 



British, or Welsh, and English. 

Gau, a lie 
Gawr, outcry 
Gel, gele, a leech 
Gen, soul, life 
Gen, a jaw 

Genill, offspring 

Gerain, to cry 

Geud, falsehood 

Glain, glass 

Glan, pure 

Glas, green 

Glasdwr, milk and water 

Glaslanc, half grown youth 

Glassan, a grayling 

Glin, m. a knee 

Gllngam, knock-kneed 

Gloth, gluttonous 

Glyd, glue 

Gnawd, use 

Gnaws, usual 

Gnif, toil 

Gnodawl, usual 

G6f, a smith 

Gofan, a smith 

Gog, activity 

Golfan, a sparrow 

Gor, a brood 

Gorchest, an enigma 

Gor, a brood 

Gorlawn, over full 

Goryn, a pimple 

Graeanan, a granum 

Graf, garlic 

Grawys, lent 

Gre, a flock 

Greian, that which gives heat 

Greidyll, a gridiron 

Grem, a gnash 

Grew, a level 

Grionan, a hum 

Grwysed, a gooseberry 

Gwach, a cavity 



Gaelic and English. 
go, falsehood 
gaoir 3 outcry 
geala, a leech 
gean, joy, glee 
geine, a chop, geamichean, pi. Ben 

Ddrain 
gineal, offspring 
gearain, to complain 
gabhad, a pretence 
gloine, glass 
glan, pure 
glas, green 

eanghlaise, milk and water 
glas-ghiulan, a young lad , 
glaisean, a grayling 
glun, m. a knee 
glun.cham, knock-kneed 
glut, gluthd, gluttony 
glaogh, glue 
gnath, custom 
gnaths, use 
gniomh, labour 
gnathail, usual 
gobha, a smith 
gobhainn, a smith 
gog,"quick motion 
gealbhonn, a sparrow 
gur, a brood 
eorr-cheist, a riddle 
guir, to brood 
cbrr-lan, too full 
guirean, a pimple 
grainean, a grain 
creamh, garlic 
carghas, lent 
greigh, a flock, stud 
grian, the sun 
greideall, a griddle 
greim, a bite 
griu, a level 
crbnan, a hum 
grbiseid, a gooseberry 
caoch, empty i 



56 



HISTORY OF THE 



taking out all the Bones, to make them bend the better in 
speaking. 

«* Lastly, some condemn it unjustly as a worthless Tongue, 
because leading to no matter of moment ; and who will care 



British, or Welsh, and English. 

Gwachul, feeble 

Gwadd, a mole 

Gwaeddiad, a crying out 

Gwaen, a plain 

Gwaew, pang 

Gwag, void 

Gwail, that is over 

Gwain, smart, neat 

Gwaisg, brisk 

Gwaith, time 

Gwal, a wall 

Gwalaeth, grief 

Gwalc, a turn up 

Gwalt, a welt 

Gwall, defect 

Gwallaw, to pour 

Gwallt, hair of your head 

Gwan, weak 

Gwarant, security 

Gwasan, a youth 

Gwasg, a press 

Gwasgawed, scatter 

Gwau, to weave 

Gwden, a withe 

Gwed, a saying 

Gweddi, supplication 

Gweisgion, husks 

Gweiryn, a blade of hay 

Gweithiaw, to work 

Gwen, a fair one 

Gwen, white 

Gwep, visage 

Gwer, tallow 

Gwern, alder 

Gwerthyd, a spindle 

Gwig, a nook 

Gwichian, to squeak 

Gwin, wine 

Gwir, pure 

Gwiw, worthy 

Gwlan, wool 

Gwan, a thrust 



Gaelic and English. 
fachanta, petty, puny 
fath, a mole 

faoghaid, a pack of hounds 
fain, low ground 
goimh, pang 
caogh, empty 
bail, spare 
guanach, giddy 
busganta, smart 
fath, time, opportunity 
balla, a wall 
mulad, sadness 
bailc, a ridge 
bait, a welt 
feall, deceit 
falamh, empty 
fait, hair 
fann, weak, faint 
barant, security 
gasan, a youth 
fasg, to squeeze 
f asgadh, scatter 
figh, weave 
goidean, a withe 
guth, a voice 
guidhe, supplication 
faoisginn, to husk 
feoirnean, a blade of hay 
gniomh, work 
finne, a fair one 

ban, white 

fiamh, visage 

geir, tallow 

fearnn, alder 

fearsaid, a spindle 

ilig, a cove 

pischan, a squeaker 

fion, wine 

fir, fior, true, real. 

fiu, worthy 

olann, wool 

guin, venom 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 



57 



to carry about that key which can unlock no Treasures ? But 
this is False ; that Tongue affording Monuments of Antiquity, 
some being left, though many be lost, and more had been ex- 
tant, but for want of Diligence in Seeking, and Carefulnesse 
in Preserving them." 



British, or Welsh, and English- 

Gwledd, a feast 

Gwlyb, a wet 

Gwlych, wet 

Gwd, a gown 

Gwp, head of a bird 

Gwr, a man 

Gwyar, gore 

Gwydd, a goose 

Gwyddel, a Gael 

Gwyl, a festival 

Gwylan, a gull 

Gwyll, gloom 

Gwyllys, the will 

Gwymon, wrack 

Gwyn, fair 

Gwyr, oblique 

Gwys, notice 

Hab, chance 

Hael, liberal 

Halen, salt 

Halogi, to defile 

Hallt, saline 

Hanesu, to narrate 

Har, aptness to overtop 

Hebog, a hawk 

Hecyn, a notch 

Hedd, tranquillity 

Heilin, bounteous 

Helg, careful, looking about 

Heli, salt water 

Helig, willow 

Helw, possession 

Hen, old 

Henur, an older 

Hdrgar, irritation 

Hidlaid, distilleries 

Hil, issue 

Hin, weather 

Hinon, cairn weather 

Hlr, long 

Hoedlawg, having life 



Gaelic and English. 
fleadh, a feast 
glibe, sleet 
fliuch, wetness 
gun, a gown 
gop, bill 
fear, a man 

gaor, contents of the belly 
geadh, a goose 
gaidheal, a Celt 
feill, a high feast 
faoilleann, a gull 
goill, gloomy 
ailleas, will, pleasure 
feaminn, wrack 
fionn, fair 
fiar, oblique 
fios, a notice 
tap, a chance 
rial, generous 
salunn, salt, gen. shalan 
salaich, to defile 
saillte, salt, gen. shaillt 
seanchas, narration, gen. sheanach: 
sar, worthy 

seabhog, a hawk, gen. sheobhag 
eag, a notch 
sith, peace 
feillidh, bounteous 
sealg, hunting 
saile, salt water 
seileach, willow 
seilbh, possession 
sean, old 

seanair, a grandfather 
feargor, provoking 
sileadh, distilling, dropping 
siol, seed 
sion, weather 
soininn, calm weather 
sir, continuance 
6aoghalach, having long life 

c 2 



58 



HISTORY OF THE 



These remarks of the venerable divine are so 
full and so pointed, that they really leave us no 
room for comment. How sound a lesson do they 



British, or Welsh, and English. 

Hoedyl, duration of life 

Hogyn, a stripling 

Hosan, a hose 

Hual, a gyve 

Hufyll, humble 

Hulian, to spread over 

Hun, slumber 

Hwb, a push 

Hwyl, a sail 

Hyd, length 

Laeth, milk 

Llafar, speech 

Llan, area 

Llath, a rod 

Llathyr, glossy 

Llawer, a great deal 

Llawg, a gulp 

Llawn, full 

Llawr, a floor 

Llaw,/. a hand 

Llead, reading 

Llech, a flag 

Lied, breadth 

Llea, half 

Lledran, half.share 

Lledu, to widen 

Llefarn, to speak 

Llemain, to hop 

Llenwi, to fill 

Lies, benefit 

Llessg, sluggish 

Llesu, to benefit 

Llethyr, a slope 

Lleyn, a low strip of land 

Lli, a flux 

Llian, linen 

Llifaw, to grind 

Llim, that which is smooth 

Llithred, a glide 

Lliw, a colour 

Llo, a calf 

Llofi, to handle 

Llom, bare 

Llong, a ship 



Gaelic and English. 

saoghal, duration of life 
ogan, a youth 
osan, a hose 
duac, a wreath 
umhail, obedient 
sgaol, v. spread 
suain, sound sleep 
ilp, a push 
sebl, a sail 
fad, length 
lachd, milk 
labhairt, utterance 
lann, enclosure 
slat, a rod; yard 
liomhar, smooth 
lebr, enough, plenty 
slug, a swallowing 
Ian, full 

lar, floor, ground 
lamh,/. a hand 
leughadh, reading 
leachd, a flag , 
leud, breadth 
leth, half 

leth-roinn, half share 
leudaich, to widen 
labhair, to speak 
leum, to jump 
libn, to fill 
leas, to benefit 
leisg, lazy 
leasaich, to better 
leitir, a declivity 
leun, a flat grassy plot 
lighe, a speat 
lion, lint 

liobhadh, to polish 
slim, sleek 
liathrod, a ball 
lith, colour 
laogh, a calf 
lamsich, to handle 
lorn, bare 
long, a ship 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 



59 



read to a nation criminally negligent of the cultiva- 
tion of a language so "native," so " unmixed," so 
"unaltered," so "durable." That the British 



British, or Welsh, and English. 

Llcmgsaer, a ship builder 

Llosg, a burn 

Llosgen, a blister 

Llostlydan, a beaver 

Liu, a throng 

Llud, cinders, kc. 

Lluryg, a coat of mail 

Llw, an oath 

Llwch, a lake 

Llwm, bare 

Llwd, hoary 

Llwyn, the loin 

Llwyr, quite, utter 

Llwyth.aload 

Llyd, breadth 

Llyfin, sleek 

Llyfran, a little book 

Llyg. a mouse 

Llyman, one stark naked 
Llymnoeth, stark naked 
Llyn, liquor 

Llys, a separation 

Llysau, herbs 

Llystyn, a lodgment 

Llywddu, to guide 

Macwy, m. a youth 

Mad, good 

Maer, steward 

Magyl, a mesh 

Mai, a field 

Mall, want of energy 

Mam, a mother 

Man, small 

Mantach, toothless jaw 

March, a horse 

Marchau, to ride 

Ma wn, peat 

Mawr, great 

Meddal, soft 

Mel, honey 

Melawg, having honey 

Melfed, velvet 

Melin, a mill 

Melus, honied 



Gaelic and English. 

long-saor, a ship builder 

losg, a burn 

loisgean, a blister 

lostleathan, a beaver 

sluagh, people 

luatha, ashes 

luireach, a coat of mail 

luth, to swear 

loch, a lake 

lom, bare 

liath, grey 

loinean, the loin 

leir, all, whole 

luchd, a load 

leud, breadth 

sleomhainn, sleek 

leabhran, a little book 

luch, a mouse 

loman, one stark naked 

lom-noch, stark naked 

lenn, ale 

lios, a garden 

lusa, herbs 

loistinn, a mansion 

leidig, to lead 

macabh, a lad 

math, good 

maor, an officer 

mogul, a mesh 

moigh, magh, a plain 

mall, weak, slow 

mamaidh, mamma 

mion, small 

manndach, mumbling 

marc, a horse 

marcaich, ride 

moine, peat, fuel 

m5r, large 

meadhail, soft, tender talk 

mil, honey 

mealach, honied 

melbheid, velvet 

muileann, a mill 

milis, sweet 



60 



HISTORY OF THE 



tongue is the Welsh, and the Welsh another name 
for the Gaelic or Celtic, it would be offering insult 
to the knowledge of the bulk of our readers to 
argue : every school-boy knows it. We have 
already in page 43, submitted its registered rela- 
tionship, namely, " British or Welsh, composed of 



British, or Welsh, and English. 

Melysi, sweetness 

Menw, intellect 

Merf, insiped 

Mesur, rule 

Miar, a briar 

Mil, an animal 

Mis, a month 

Misawl, monthly 

Moch, swine 

Moch, early 

Modd, a form 

Mael, bald, &c. 

Molad, praise 

Moelron, a sea calf 

Mollt, a wedder 

Monoch, guts 

Mor, the sea 

Mordir, maritime land 

Mordon, a sea breaker 

Moron, carroty 

Morwyn, a maw 

Murlysian, pellitory of the wall 

Muig, smoke 

Mwnwgyl, the neck 

Mwng, a mane 

Mwnh, friable 

Mwythan, tender shoot 

Myfyr, muse 

Myhun, myself 

Mynyn, a kid 

Mysg, the mist 

Na, nor 

Nac, neither, nor 

Naw, nine 

Nawn, noon 

Nerth, might 

&c. &c. &c. 



Gaelic and English. 

milse, sweetness 
meumna, mind 
meirbh, dead, dull 
miosar, a rule 
smiar, a bramble berry 
miol, a beast, a louse 
mios, a month 
miosail, monthly 
muc, a sow 
moch, early 
modh, a manner 
maol, bald, &c. 
moladh, praise 
maolrdin, the head of a seal 
molt, a wedder 
mionach, entrails 
muir, sea 

muir-thir, maritime land 
muir-thonn, a wave 
muiran, a carrot 
boirionn, female 
mur.lus, wall-plant 
milig, gloom 
muineal, neck 
muing, a mane 
murrail, crumbled 
maothan, tender shoot 
meobhair, memory 
mi-fhein, myself 
minnean, a kid 
measg, amid, mixed with 
no, na, nor 
nach, not 
naoi, nine 
ndin, noon 
neart, strength 
&c. &c. &c. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 61 

Cornish and Armoric, of Celtic origin" The grand- 
child cannot certainly be supposed to be more 
primitive than the grandsire ? Clear, however, as 
the identity may be to us, and willing to allow the 
venerable Bishop's remarks every due force, we 
have presented the reader in a foot-note with a 
short comparison or collation, which, in our opinion, 
ought for ever to set the question at rest. The 
reader will there see that writing was the chief 
cause of the confusion, from the difference in 
the power of sound given by this and that tribe to 
this consonant and to that vowel, and by the con- 
founding of nouns, verbs, moods, and tenses: this 
is the reason why it is that the most illiterate Celt 
speaks the best and most classical Gaelic ! He 
studies the volume of Nature, and Nature teaches 
him her own pronunciation : this is the source of 
radices, and, being rehearsed in his ear, he echoes 
them ; but let him begin to express this language by 
symbols, called letters, for the first time to a nation, 
and chance if a succeeding generation will more 
than agree about his meaning. 



62 HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER II. 



"Thig feart le neart na greine oirnn."— D. Ban. 
The increase of solar heat will bring a corresponding increase of fecundity. 



THE DAWN OF HUMAN EXISTENCE MAN CONTEMPLATED 

AS FRESH FROM THE HANDS OF HIS MAKER OPINIONS 

OF EMINENT SCHOLARS IN FAVOUR OF THE GROUND- 
WORK. 

We may now fancy the morning of man's creation 
— the sun in eastern grandeur emerging from be- 
hind the Shirvanian hills, as if eager to obtain a 
view of the not unimportant stranger — Adam in 
silent admiration, tired of wondering who and what 
he himself was, and whence come ; now arrested 
for the first time at sight of a rare object — a golden 
globe — mountinggradually the blue field, and taking 
indisputed possession as sole monarch of the planet 
world ; for the regent moon with her myriads of 
twinkling attendants retire at sight of him with 
obsequious majesty : the lion rampant with beam- 
ing eyes and terrific mane, dallying with the meek 
lamb — the domestic cow browsing in Eden or 
couchant ruminating — the ape among the yielding 
boughs scampering and pampering — the wily ser- 
pent now rearing his burnished crest, and now as- 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 63 

tonishing Adam with sinuous gambols — the hyena 
laughing like a maniac — the cuckoo, together with 
the world of winged choristers of the grove singing 
their varied matins — the industrious bee whispering 
to the shamrock — the Euphrates gliding by with 
liquid murmur—the trees gently waving as if in 
sign of worship — echo flying from hill to hill, as if 
mother Nature were alive to the varied interests of 
her offspring; here sympathizing with her com- 
plaining young, and here rejoicing in the joy of 
such of them as vent their happiness in hymns of 
praise — Paradise, in short, like one great altar offer- 
ing fragrance and praise to the Great Creator. 
Thus circumstanced contemplate we our great pro- 
genitor Adam, He is endowed withreason and sense 
— with a tongue ready to give audible expression to 
inward emotion — to enunciate every possible into- 
nation whether in imitation of the notes of other 
animals or to accompany and give a tongue to his 
own looks and gestures. Thus circumstanced how 
much of language, we would ask, does he require ? 
Why, if language be but " a medium for the ex- 
pression and communication of human ideas and 
sensations," it can be no further necessary than it 
is conducive to this end. But Adam in present 
circumstances has not an individual human being 
to communicate with, and so far as his Maker is 
concerned, the secret breathings of the soul are 
intelligible to Him. Adam requires, therefore, as 



64 HISTORY OF THE 

yet no language; but this is really his situation 
when the Lord God brings unto him every beast 
of the field, and every fowl of the air, that he might 
see to call them, as the original says. Well, Adam 
did give them names ; or, in other words, he did 
see what to call them. Nor was the task super- 
human ; for if the motley herd uttered their voices 
severally, Adam had nothing to do but echo them, 
or, as one says, " act Nature's amanuensis." 

" The first thing to be remarked here," says the learned 
Mr Davies, "is the time when Adam began to form his lan- 
guage. It was before the creation of Eve. There could not, 
consequently, have been a tacit compact in the first rudiments 
of speech. Adam's motive to exercise his organs of speech upon 
the present occasion is intimated by other parts of the narrative 
to have been the ' implanted love of society* ■ It is not 
good that man should be alone' The creatures were brought 
to him, not to see whether he would name them or not, but 
that he might see (what) to call them" 

Which was the natural way for inexperienced 
Adam to go to work under these circumstances ? 
The most natural answer is in the words of the 
same learned divine : — 

" They could not (the names) have been mere combinations 
of elementary sounds, conceived at random and accidentally 
distributed. Though Adam should have modulated his inex- 
perienced organs so as to utter a multitude of such fortuitous 
combinations, yet they would have been e sounds without 
meaning.' They could have left no distinct impression upon 
his own mind, nor could they aptly communicate just impres- 
sions to others ; they would, therefore, have been forgotten 
soon after they had been imposed. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 65 

" Neither could the names given by Adam, have been 
scientific and classical terms of a zoologist. He was neither 
an expert linguist, nor any thing like a natural historian. 
The animals presented were such as he had never seen, and 
of whom he had never heard. These names must then have 
been simply descriptive terms for obvious and general ideas, 
excited immediately and suited naturally to the experience 
of the nomenclator. He could have struck out no abstract 
ideas of any animal whatsoever ; but he could observe their 
several motions, their comparative bulk or littleness, their 
gentle or awful aspects, their pleasing or disagreeable shapes ; 
and for these obvious perceptions nature could supply him 
with descriptive terms. Those terms would not only attach 
themselves to the memory, but would present apposite ideas or 
images to those who might afterwards hear them. To attract their 
notice and conciliate their good will, he addressed himself to 
them severally by descriptive gestures. These efforts called 
forth the hitherto latent powers of his nature ; the organs of 
speech moved in unison, and produced their corresponding 
articulations, unless where this exertion was saved by a sim- 
ple repetition of the voices which they uttered. And thus it 
was that the names of the familiar objects were acquired, 
and the solid ground-work of human language laid upon the 
basis of natural principles." 

This is philosophical reasoning, and is borne out 
by the roots and original structure of the primordial 
language. It is a pity but Mr Davies were master 
of the Celtic as he was of its sister the Welsh. As 
it is we owe him much. 

It will appear, by and by, self-evident, that with 
all Adam's intellectual powers, he was treated as a 
free agent, and that his knowledge was progressive — 
the child of experience — a reasonable being, giving 



66 HISTORY OF THE 

a tongue to objects, actions, and passions, just as 
necessity prompted. 

"Supposing " says the learned Dr Blair, " language to have 
a Divine original, we cannot, however, suppose that a perfect 
system of it was all at once given to man. It is much more 
natural to think that God taught our first parents only such 
language as suited their present occasions, leaving them, as 
he did in other things, to enlarge and improve it as their 
future necessities should require. Consequently those first 
rudiments of speech must have been poor and narrow ; and 
we are at full liberty to inquire, in what manner and by what 
steps, language advanced to the state in which we now 
find it. 

" If we should suppose a period before any words were 
invented or known, it is clear that men could have no other 
method of communicating to others what they felt, than by 
the cries of passion, accompanied with such motions and 
gestures as were farther expressive of passion. These are 
signs which nature teaches all men, and which are understood 

by all Those exclamations, therefore, which by 

grammarians are called interjections, uttered in a strong and 
passionate manner, were, beyond doubt, the first elements or 
beginnings of speech. 

" When more enlarged communication became necessary, 
and names began to be assigned to objects, in what manner 
can we suppose men to have proceeded in this assignation of 
names ? Undoubtedly by imitating, as much as they could, 
the nature of the object, which they named by the sound of 
the name which they gave to it. To suppose words invented, 
or names given to things, in a manner purely arbitrary, with- 
out any ground or reason, is to suppose an effect without a 

cause Nothing was more natural than to imitate by 

the sound of the voice, the quality of the sound or noise which 
any external object made, and to form its name accordingly.'' 1 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 67 

This, it will be confessed, is quite in point — this 
is, in substance, our grand position. But why did 
the learned doctor not follow out the subject? 
Why, because he found he could not, wanting, as 
he did, a knowledge of the Celtic language, — the 
magic torch, the labyrinthian guide, the sole 
golden key. High looks and a haughty mien have 
made many overstep the simple gospel path ; and, 
in like manner, it is not ignorance, but too much 
learning that has confounded the schools in the 
matter in question. Simple radicals, consisting 
not unfrequently of a single vowel or consonant, 
connected with a vocal power, such as the Celtic 
presents, are pearls trampled upon by Pride with- 
out perceiving them. Very many, it would appear, 
have spyed our principle at a distance, but sailed 
past without giving themselves the trouble to exa- 
mine it minutely. The learned Lord Kaimes is 
of these when he says, 

" As the social state is essential to man, and speech to the 
social state, the wisdom of Providence in fitting man for ac- 
quiring that necessary art, deserves more attention than is 
generally bestowed upon it. The Oran-Outang* has the ex- 
ternal organs of speech in perfection, and many are puzzled 
to account why it never speaks. But the external organs of 
speech make but a small part of the necessary apparatus. 
The faculty of imitating sounds is an essential part ; and won- 
derful would that faculty appear were it not rendered familiar 
by daily practice. A child of two or three years is able, by 

* A cabalistical appellation expressive of solar worship. 



68 HISTORY OF THE 

Nature alone, without the least instruction, to adapt the 
organs of speech to every articulate sound ; and a child of 
four or five years can pitch its windpipe so as to emit a sound 
of any elevation, which enables it, with an ear, to imitate the 
songs it hears. But above all other parts, sense and under- 
standing are essential to speech. A parrot can pronounce 
articulate sounds, and it has frequently an inclination to speak, 
but, for want of understanding, none of the kind can form a 
single sentence." 

This is certainly apposite, and, as a collateral 
authority, invaluable. Some people, however, may 
be misled by it so far as to suppose with Psamme- 
tius, that if a child were secluded from society, that 
child would, in process of time, naturally and of 
necessity speak the primordial language. Accord- 
ing to our principle, never, except to a limited 
extent. If language be, as we assume it is, the 
image or reflection of Nature, how can a painter 
copy the image without seeing the original ? How 
could a child, locked up in Egypt, impose descrip- 
tive names upon fowls peculiar to St Kilda isle ; or 
echo, as the Celtic does, the every tone of the At- 
lantic Ocean, the every note of the cleavers of the 
sky severally, the every voice of the mountain 
chase ? 

The idea is unphilosophical ! He who would 
re-invent the first language must first create a man 
such as Adam was, and place him just in exactly 
similar circumstances, and in Eden. 

Most nations and tribes, it will be found, owe 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 69 

their distinctive appellations to their tutelar deities, 
or to some other religious characteristic ; but this 
is a knowledge of progression and of migration, 
with which a person imprisoned from the womb 
would not be likely to be conversant. To suppose 
such a person, therefore, to make any language 
oeyonc what served his own limited circle, is to 
suppose sounds without ideas — a consequence with- 
out a cause ! 
Again, 

" There are," says the author of the article Language, 
in the Encyclopedia Britannica, " external indications of 
the internal feelings and desires which appear in the most 
polished society, and which are confessedly instinctive. 
The passions, emotions, sensations, and appetites, are 
naturally expressed in the countenance by characters, which 
the savage and the courtier can read with equal readiness. 

'* To teach men to disguise these instinctive indications of 
their temper, and 

" To carry smiles and sunshine in their face, ' 
When discontent sits heavy at their heart," 

constitutes a great part of modern manners If these 

observations be just, and we flatter ourselves that no man will 
call them in question, it seems to follow that if mankind were 
prompted by instinct to use articulate sounds as indications of 
their passions, affections, sensations, and ideas, the language 
of Nature could never be wholly forgotten, and that it would 
sometimes predominate over the language of art. Groans, 
sighs, and some inarticulate lively sounds, are naturally ex- 
pressive of pain and pleasure, and equally intelligible to all 
mankind. The occasional use of these no art can wholly 
banish ; and if there were articulate sounds, naturally expres- 



70 HISTORY OF THE 

sive of the same feelings, it is not conceivable that art or 
education could banish the use of them, merely because by 
the organs of the mouth they are broken into parts and re- 
solvable into syllables" 

This authority, whom we take to be Professor 
Napier, sees that a language formed on natural 
principles could never be wholly forgotten. And 
is it not so ? Have not Pride, Prejudice, and 
Parliament had their furies let loose upon it for 
centuries and what have they effected? Why, they 
made captives of many words and changed their 
names, but after a lapse of well nigh six thousand 
years, the Celtic still flourisheth a living pheno- 
menon, and shall flourish 

" Secure amid the war of elements, 

The wreck of matter and the crash of worlds." 

Once more, 

" It is probable," says PinnocTis Guide to Knowledge, "that 
this power, namely, the power of clothing ideas in vehicles 
denominated words — was given no farther than was abso- 
lutely necessary for the limited purposes of our first parents, 
leaving them to add to the number of their words as circum- 
stances should induce them thus to do. This is quite in ac- 
cordance with the general system of Providence. So delightful 
is the gradual acquisition of knowledge, and the accumulation 
of new ideas, that it seems highly probable that the mental 
powers of the first human beings were allowed gradually to 
unfold themselves, and that they, day by day, acquired fresh 
ideas, and invented terms by which to express them ; just as 
in succeeding generations, animals and vegetables invariably 
grew from small beginnings to their full maturity by slow 
degrees." 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. / 1 

These, being the voluntary declarations of eminent 
scholars — the emanations of master-minds — we shall 
no longer be diverted from our purpose by un- 
schooled cavillers who may have never looked back 
beyond school-boy reminiscences, and who never 
looked forward, as the poet says, farther than their 
nose. We, therefore, with feelings of due deference, 
and a conscientious regard to what we believe to be 
Truths proceed to the illustration. And, 

" Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer 

Before all temples th' upright heart and pure, 
Instruct me, for thou knowest : thou from the first 
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread, 
Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss, 
And mad'st it pregnant. What in me is dark. 
Illumine ! what is low raise and support. 
That to the height of this great argument 
I may assert Eternal Providence, 
And justify the ways of God to man." 



HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER III. 



" Know well each Ancient's proper character : 
His fable, subject, scope, in every page, 
Religion, country, genius of his age : 
Without all these at once before your eyes, 
Cavil you may, but never criticise." — Pope." 



ADAM GIVING NAMES TO BEASTS OF THE FIELD THESE 

NAMES AN ECHO OR REHEARSAL OF THEIR VOICES 
SEVERALLY, AND STILL PRESERVED IN THE CELTIC 
LANGUAGE AND ITS COGNATE DIALECTS, AND FORMING 

IMPORTANT ROOTS THE HIEROGRAMS AND THECK 

GONY OF PRIMITIVE AGES EXAMINED AND ILLUS- 
TRATED. 

" In considering the character of Adam," as Calmet says, 
u the greatest difficulty is to divest ourselves of ideas received 
from the present state of things. We cannot sufficiently dis- 
miss from our minds that knowledge, or rather subtlety which 
we have acquired by experience. We cannot truly imagine 
that entire simplicity — that total absence of cunning, or worldly 
wisdom which may adequately express the extreme candour 
of Adam's mind ; for, as we must, even in common language, 
use words drawn from things invented since his time ; so we 
cannot help referring the knowledge of certain things to him, 
because they are known laws. When we contemplate the 
active nature of the passions of the mind, anger, jealousy 
grief, for example, we can hardly conceive of them in a state 
of absolute quiescence, and, therefore, connect them with our 
ideas of Adam : whereas the truth is, although Adam, on his 
creation had abundant capacity for such things, yet they 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 73 

formed no part of his actual possessions ; they were not called 
into exercise. We cannot suppose that Adam, all at once, 
was master of geography. He knew not the globe, its extent, 
or its properties : he knew what was for his use, the extent 
and properties of his garden. He knew not the natural his- 
tory of the frozen poles — or of the torrid zone — or of the 
change of seasons. He knew not of crimes afterwards com- 
mitted, and of morals afterwards inculcated. He knew simply 
the direct course of his duty, and in that knowledge he was 
happy." 

The reader will do well to bear this lecture in 
mind. 

Of the order in which the Great Shepherd 
brought the animals to Adam we are not informed ; 
nor is it essential. Let us suppose the first to have 
been the domestic cow : the name of this animal in 
Celtic is bua, buo, or bo; an echo or imitation 
of its common note. We think we hear the scoffer 
already indulging in a sneer and exclaiming, " What! 
are we indebted for our language to the brutes ?" 
We answer, our object is not to depreciate one 
language, and aggrandise another, so much as to 
discover Truth, be it for or against the pride of 
man. But, to meet the question, let us ask, who 
was it that taught their language to the brutes ? 
Who taught the first cow to low — the first sheep to 
bleet — the first lion to roar, and endowed man with 
powers to imitate them ? Was it not God ? If so, 
God is still the Author — and who scoffs us in this 
our position, therefore, scoffs " Him first, Him 

D 



74 HISTORY OF THE 

last, Him midst." We deem this the proper place 
to set down our grand position : namely, that God 
is the parent of Nature ; Nattcre the parent of 
hieroglyphics; hieroglyphics the parent of letters or 
sounds ; and letters or sounds the fractions of 
language. This proposition, taken in its most 
extended sense, may be considered the text or 
subject-matter of the following pages. 

We count this a proper place also to impress 
upon the reader's mind the following most im- 
portant — most essential lesson, namely, " That a 
root or radix can have but one proper, natural, 
literal meaning — one primary leading idea, every 
other sense being secondary, consequential, 

PROGRESSIVE, ALLUSIVE, FIGURATIVE, METAPHO- 
RICAL, or analogous." This is the golden key in 
tracing roots. One word in a language may mean 
twenty things, but after all, no radix has, properly- 
speaking, more than one sense or meaning — one 
leading idea, and that radix may be in one single 
letter. 

If we take this key in our hand, it will lead us 
through most of the mazes in language, and open 
up to us such a view of things as will delight and 
astonish ; it will give such a perspicuity and pre- 
cision to our ideas as otherwise are unattainable. 

Well; buo, bua, or bo, a cow. This is a 
root or radix founded in nature, namely, in the 
note of the cow. A few of the branches or deriva- 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 75 

tions from it, either figuratively, metaphorically, 
or analogously, -are, b uar, cattle, kine; bua-cha,v, 
cow-dung; Zwa-thal, a cow-stall; &w#-hara, brutish, 
cow-like ; io-thigh, or 6a-thigh, a cow-house, a 
shealing, watchhouse — whence bothy ; bua-chille, a 
cow-herd ; buaile, a convention of cows in order to 
their being milked, a fold, a park; buaile, the 
halo about the moon, because round like a fold, 
and enclosing or including objects, like cows in a 
fold; buav&ch, shackles on the hind legs of a 
cow when being milked ; buaic, a preparation of 
cow-dung and urine used for bleaching linen; 
.Bohemia, the cow country. " The name Bohemia, 5 
says our Encyclopedia, " is derived from the Ger- 
man Boheman, which signifies the residence of the 
Boii, who were a branch of the Celts, who, under 
the command of Sigonessus, passed over from Gaul 
into Germany, about 600 years before the Chris- 
tian era." Here we are told, in the usual way, 
that Bohemia is derived from Boheman, and that 
Boheman signifies the residence of the Boii ; and, 
as Dr Johnson would say, " there's an end on't." 
What does Boii signify ? The reader anticipates 
us when we answer that it has its root — its primary 
idea, in the note of the cow already submitted ; as 
has Boetia, Bavaria, Bashan, Batanea, Bosphorus, 
and many more ; all having reference to cows or 
pasturage. " Boetia," says Dr Lempriere, " is a 
country of Greece, bounded on the north by 



76 HISTORY OF THE 

Phocis, &c. It was called Boetia from Boeotis? 
son of Itonus, or, according to others, from a bove y 
from a cow, by which Cadmus was led into the 
country where he built Thebes." Both opinions 
are correct. Boeotas signifies the man of cows, 
whether as a grazier or worshipper of that animal ; 
and this is the sense in which we are to understand 
a tribe to have been led by a bove or cow. Such 
was the respect paid throughout Egypt to all the 
bove kind, in respect of their relation to Taurus, 
the symbolic bull, that no individual of the 
species was ever slaughtered for the sake of 
food. Bulls were occasionally killed in sacrifice, 
but cows were exempted even from that peril. # 
The Hindoo goddess Bhavani signifies in Celtic 
the milk-cow. She symbolizes, under the figure 
of a cow, the fecundity of Nature. She is invoked, 
as was Isis, by women in child-birth. Venus Urania 
was also worshipped under the form of a cow, or 
Pan, which is milk. Bavaria is synonymous. It was 
the region inhabited by the jBoii, the Celts of the 
Danube, before the time of the general migration of 
the " barbarians," as they were called. It became 
afterwards a Roman province, but the Celtic language 
had reigned therein long enough to leave monuments 
behind it in the names of places. Ifoshan, in like 
manner, is resolvable into Bd, cows, and Esti, he, a 

* Herod, lib. ii. c. 41. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 77 

man. Og, or rather m^ Oug 9 possessed Bashan 
when Moses conquered it.* "It was esteemed," 
says Taylor, "one of the most fruitful countries 
in the world ; its rich pastures, oaks, and fine 
cattle are exceedingly commended." In this con- 
quest Moses lays great stress upon the cattle as 
the most precious of the spoil. " But all the 
cattle, and the spoil of the cities we took for a prey 
to ourselves :" and it would seem from Psalm 
xxii., that the bulls of Bashan had become pro- 
verbial for strength. " Many bulls have compassed 
me ; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round." 
Writing of this country Mr Buckingham says, 

" We had now quitted the land of Sihon, king of the 
Amorites, and entered into that of Og, king of Bashan ; both 
of them well known to all the readers of the early scriptures. . . 
The expression of 'the fat bulls of Bashan/ which occurs more 
than once in scripture, seems to us equally inconsistent, as 
applied to the beasts of a country generally thought to be a 
desert, in common with the whole tract which is laid down in 
the modern maps as such, between the Jordan and the 
Euphrates : but we could now fully comprehend, not only that 
the bulls of this luxuriant country might be proverbially fat. 
but that its possessors, too, might be a race renowned for 

strength and comeliness of person Deep valleys, filleu 

with murmuring streams and verdant meadows, offered all the 
luxuriance of cultivation ; and herds and flocks gave life and 

* Aug, in Celtic, means a terrier dog, and might be the 
tutelar deity of this king : but this point we pass until we 
come to the Barker-god. 



78 HISTORY OF THE 

animation to scenes as grand, as beautiful, and as highly 
picturesque as the genius or taste of a Claude could either 
invent or desire." 

Very good indeed, ifatanea, again, is but the 
plural of Bashan, and, consequently, used indis- 
criminately the one for the other, ifoshan being the 
king, and jBatanea the people, and Bos-phorus is com- 
pounded of Bo, a cow, and pilaris, aferry or firth. So 
Lempriere on the term Bosphorus : " two narrow 
straits," says he, "situate at the confines of Europe 
and Asia: the word is derived from ¥>og vrogog, 
bovis meatus, because, on account of its narrowness, 
an ox could easily cross it?* Let this suffice upon 
this note. But Nature rests not here. The cow 
besides this confidential voice, has a variety of other 
tones by which it can communicate even to man its 
sensations of want, pleasure, fear, pain, &c. These 
as well as the note bub, or bo, form part of the 
Celtic vocabulary, and, like bo, are just echo-terms. 
For example, gnosd, a term expressive of its sup- 
pliant voice ; geum, of its low ; langan, of a 
straggling sort of lowing, not unlike the braying of 
an ass; reic, of a desperate roar when being 
pushed or goaded by a fellow-cow; cread, of its 

* It is amusing as well as profitable to trace the genealogy 
of words ; how, for example, the note of the cow enters into 
the name of an article of dress, a Boa ! But we find that 
there is a serpent called a Boa-constrictor, i.e. the cow 
strangler, and hence, from a clear analogy in idea when round 
a lady's neck, this has been called after it. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 79 

note when sick and unable to inspire and expire 
with freedom ; nual> of a loud low three or four 
times repeated ; thus, ua> ua, ua, and, Bruchd, 
expressive of eructation in the process of rumina- 
tion. This language can die but with Nature : 
in the term bruchd, we have, perhaps, the primary 
idea of the Arabic, nil ruch, breath, and symboli- 
cally, spirit, &c. 

Caor, a sheep. This appellative is pronounced 
with a tremulous voice, precisely, an echo to that 
of the sheep ; the letter c being always pronounced 
hard, like k in English. We now take with us the 
properties of this animal and call a meek inoffensive 
person caor, a sheep : a bashful, pitiful, timid 
manner, caor&il, sheepishness : the white breakers 
of the ocean, caoraich, sheep, from their resem- 
blance to a common studded with white sheep.* 
The Arabic kar, and the Welsh gicr, are identical. 
The Hebrew name ntP she, is from its panting 
property in hot climates, which root we have pre- 
served in Seid and seitil, to pant, to blow. Its 
Greek name (irfka, mela, is an echo of its bleating ; 
nor do we w 7 ant the term meilich : " melich nan 
caoraich" the bleating of the sheep, 1 Sam. xv. 14. 



* " Cha robh rif a stigh na h-aodach 

'San caolus na chaora geala." 
Literally — She, the vessel, deigned not to reef her sails, 
although the channel was all white sheep. 



80 HISTORY OF THE 

Each, a horse. We know not a combination of 
letters that can better express the war-note of the 
horse than each, or eoch ; the ch is gutteral, and 
pronounced in the throat like the Greek ^. This 
is the very word — these the very letters employed 
by the writer of Job to express the war-note of the 
horse. " He saith among the trumpeters n^n 
each" (chap, xxxix. 25) rendered cC ha, ha." The 
note, it is true, has given rise to the phrase " a 
horse-laugh." 

The reader shall have by this time observed that 
the same animal may be known by sundry names, 
each of them being expressive of a separate and 
distinct property. This has been a source of much 
confusion, yet it goes to establish our principle, of 
language being the child of nature as truly as the 
shadow that swims the mountain side, is the effect 
of a cloud interrupting the sunbeam. 

The horse is equally remarkable for another 
note, and equally well-known by it, namely, prsh, 
or prs. To pronounce it with effect you , shut 
your mouth, and, with your tongue against your 
palate or upper gum, force out your breath and 
make your lips vibrate against each other. This 
is the root of the Arabic ons prs, a horse ; of the 
Hebrew eds prsh, a horse; and of the Celtic 
prush-oh, i.e. O prush, the term by which we con- 
vene horses in the Highlands, so well understood to 
convey the idea of a horse, that among school-boys 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 8i 

to call one prs, is a sure signal for an Iliad. It is 
the very word, with its Celtic plural termination, 
which confounded the Eastern despot, and made his 
knees smite together, when the mysterious hand 
cyphered it on the wall, •po-iD prsin> literally. 
horsemen. This word, by prefixing the copulative 
vau, and by supplying the vowel e where the in- 
spired penman has it not, is radically destroyed ; 
iovprsis converted into an animal to be sought but 
never to be found, viz., "peres" or c; upharsin." 
Although the root is vitiated, the idea, however, is 
retained; for Daniel renders it " the Persians" — 
a descriptive appellation, because, not only of their 
skill in horsemanship, but that they literally deified 
the horse. We may quote here, not inaptly, Hero- 
dotus, lib. i. cap. 136. 

**■ They," namely, the Persians, " instruct their children 
from their fifth to their twentieth year in three things only ; 
namely, in riding on horseback, in shooting with the bow, 
and in telling truth." 

And, again, lib. iv. p. 216. 

t( Their excellency in horsemanship they derived from the 
wise institution of Cyrus ; for before his time, as Xenophon 
informs us, on account both of the difficulty of riding in Persia, 
and of feeding horses there, it was very unusual even to see 
a horse. But by Cyrus' directions the Persians being become 
horsemen, were so accustomed to riding that no person of any 
note among them would willingly appear on foot : for Cyrus 
had made a law that it should be infamous for any of those 
whom he had furnished with horses to appear travelling on 

D 2 



82 HISTORY OF THE 

foot, whether the journey were long or short, and from this, 
(note !) and from this so sudden an alteration, it was that this 
country was called cn^ prs, and its inhabitants ^cn£ prsai, 
that is, horsemen, for in Arabic prs is a horse, as prsJi is in 
Hebrew ; and the same word signifies a Persian/' 

This, one would think, is conclusive. What 
follows of the venerable historian's argument is not 
so much so. " And this is the reason," continues 
he, " why the name D15 3 Persia or Persian, is never 
mentioned in the Books of Moses, Kings, Isaiah, Jer- 
emiah, nor in any that were written before the time 
of Cyrus." This is erroneous. The name Persian, it 
is true, had not become a national appellation till 
the days of Cyrus, but the term, the radix, the 
primary idea, is found in Exodus xiv. wnz prshiu, 
properly rendered horsemen ; as also in Jeremiah 
iv. 29. If etymologists had taken Nature as their 
guide, together with a natural language, they would 
not have been so much put about. 

" Bochart thinks," says Bryant, " that the name both of 
Persis and Perseus was from £r^ Paras, an horse ; because 
the Persians were celebrated horsemen, and took great delight 
in that animal. But it must be considered that the name is 
very ancient, and prior to this use of horses. P'aras, P'arez, 
and P'erez, however diversified, signify the sun, and are of the 
same analogy as P'ur, P'urrhos, P'oros, which betoken fire." 

This is learnedly striving in the dark. Bochart 
is right, but confounds himself by making " Paras" 
of Prs : and Bryant, who follows him, is also right 
in saying that the term is very ancient, and that it 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 83 

signifies the sun, but to be understood in a secondary 
or symbolical sense. Herodotus, lib. vii. cap. 40, 
speaks of a chariot drawn by eight horses and 
consecrated to Aiog, dios, among the Persians, 
in the reign of Xerxes. Who was this Dios ? 
Why, the Dia of the Celtic, and, by corruption, 
the dies, or day of the Latins, as we shall hereafter 
show. 

Here, then, is a solution for Dr Parkhurst and 
Dr Hyde, who exclaim in despair, " It is hard to 
affirm whence the Biblical name Prs" 

The horse has another note when calling his 
mate, which also forms part of our vocabulary, 
namely, si-hi-hit, contracted sit, or sitrich, in 
English, neighing : " Gach aon diubh sit rich, an 
deigh mna," Jeremiah v. 8 : and our brethren, the 
Irish, have discovered a fourth note of his, by which 
a colt is to this day distinguished in their version of 
the Bible ; in Zechariah ix. 9, that is, brom&ch. 
The root is equally original and natural with the 
former three : it is found in brom, brain, or brem, a 
flatus ; whence the Greek T&pz[ao) 9 bremo, to make 
a noise. In the first of these names we have the 
root of eachsal, rude as a horse ; eacJilauu, a pound 
for confining trespassing horses ; eachsin, Hector, 
literally a horseman ; equiria, the feast of the horse. 
In the second we have the root of ^rasach, a horse- 
stall, a manger ; Persepolis, the city of the horse 
worshippers; and in the last name the radix of 



84 HISTORY OF THE 

brarnsLnsich, a lazy high-fed youth ; &ramag, crowdy, 
having a natural relation, as cause to effect, &c. 

Ore, a sow, a swine. If Adam had called the 
sow buo, the name he gave the cow, his son Cain 
at two years of age could have corrected him, on 
hearing the note of that animal, ore. Orcan, a pig, 
also a squat corpulent person, and t-orc, a boar, 
are but a variety. We are not prepared to affirm 
it, but the classical scholar, if we mistake not, will 
find it, that herein is the leading idea of " Orcus" 
one of the names of the god of hell, and of Orcho- 
menus, a town of Boetia. We have all read of 
devils having entered " a herd of swine." 

It has another voice when it raises up its snout 
to smell a person, namely, uch, uch, whence its 
other name, muc, pronounced muehg. A human 
being, indeed, throwing his mouth into a similar 
shape and attempting to speak, will utter the same 
sound. 

Laogh, a calf. Any person desirous to learn 
how to pronounce the very important diphthong 
ao in Celtic, requires but to imitate the note of the 
calf. Here have we another argument that lan- 
guage was progressive, and formed upon natural 
principles just as occasion required. The name of 
the calf, laogh, is as true an echo, or onomatopaeia 
of its note as can be given by letters, yet Adam 
must have lived at least nine months before he had 
heard a calf, and, consequently, before he could 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 85 

have imposed a name. Was it necessary that a 
nonentity should have a name ? What idea could 
he have attached to a term so given him ? The 
Welsh Iho ; Cornish leauh ; Armoric lue ; Irish 
laodh, a calf, are, of course, but the same word. 
This root has a numerous offspring, especially in 
terms of endearment, as in " Mo laogh fein thu 
's laogh mo laoigh," i.e. my awn love and the off- 
spring of my love ; laogJmn, a darling ; tooicean, a 
calf-skin ; laoigh-iheo\, veal ; foo'rach, to be soft 
and open-toed ; where the analogy is to the hoof of 
a calf, &c. Does Laocoon, son of Priam and 
Hecuba, claim kindred here ? Was he " a calf- 
worshipper." The Trojans, we are informed, com- 
missioned him to offer a bullock to Neptune to 
render him propitious. This circumstance seems 
to favour the hypothesis.* 

Goar, or Gabhar, a goat : pronounced tremu- 
lously in the throat. The wisdom of God, which is 

* The Hebrew term l^fij Ogl, or Og-el, must be taken 
in a Cabalistic sense. The following 1 Celtic terms are 
at least cognate, viz., aingeal, an angel, also, fire ; aigeal, 
or aigleir, an ear-ring ; ighal, or iodhal, an idol. Here 
we may remark that the thing made by Aaron at Horeb 
and denominated a calf, is called by inspired Stephen 
Eih\oi, eidolon, an idol. In this instance, at least, the Celtic 
has decidedly the vantage-ground. We believe, however, 
that under the root io, or iu, we shall be able to show cause 
why any young object or animal may properly be classified 
under, and metaphorically called a calf. 



86 HISTORY OF THE 

universal and infinite, is remarkable in endowing 
the different tribes of animals with different voices. 
If it were otherwise we should have no small con- 
fusion. For instance, the bird called the snipe 
when soaring aloft, utters precisely the same voice 
or note with the goat. Upon our principle, there- 
fore, this bird's name ought to partake of that of the 
goat, and vice versa. And so it is. The name of 
this bird with us in Celtic is Goar-aur, i.e. the air- 
goat, or sky-goat. In the note of the goat we have 
the primary idea of Capraria, a mountainous island 
on the coast of Italy, famous for its goats. Plin. iii. 
c. 6 : by analogy a sign of the zodiac, in which 
appear 28 stars in the form of a goat ; hence named 
Capricorn. When the sun enters this sign it is the 
winter solstice, the longest night in the year. Like 
sundry other constellations it was made an object 
of worship, together with its symbol, the goat. 

Leon, a lion. We may easily suppose a period 
when, in speaking of this animal, this term was 
pronounced with a strong voice, and down in the 
throat like a person about to vomit : thus llho, in 
imitation of its voice. The idea of this noble 
animal, by keeping its properties before the eyes of 
the mind, has furnished language with many im- 
portant roots. Our meaning is seldom misunder- 
stood when we call a courageous noble-minded man 
a lion^ and hence the name Leonades, who, with 
300 Spartans, withstood for three days an army of 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 87 

five millions ! It is quite possible that this name 
may have been imposed upon him subsequent to 
that heroic achievement, although anterior to the 
date of writing the history. The people of Egypt 
worshipped the sun, and, perhaps, the constellation 
Leo, through the lion, because of a fancied resem- 
blance. Hence, Leo-polis, the city of the lion, 
sxidLeopolitans, its inhabitants (Parhhurst, J9.352). 
For the same reason, the sun himself is named by 
us Lo, or Leos, light, day. Part of Gallicia in 
Tarrochonensus in Spain, is called Leon, because 
in possession of lion-hearted people, the Celts. 
H The most renowned nations thereof," says Rollin, 
{i were the Celtiberii" The classical student will 
now easily identify the radix or leading idea of the 
names ieocrates, ieodocus, Leortum, &c. The 
lion has more names in Hebrew, all of which must 
be received in a metaphorical or symbolical sense. 
One of them is Ariel, which embraces the idea of 
planet-worship ; and gur, the name for a young 
one, applies primarily to the brood of a hen. The 
lion thus made the sound or letter L, and, therefore, 
to be considered one of the Cabala. 

The lion, since the fall, at least, tunes its voice to 
a far different key from lid, when making the awful 
spring upon its prey. The term roar is by no means 
a true echo to it ; no term can express it but the 
Celtic beuc. " Bheuc an leomhan," says Amos. 
The note of ocean when scourged to madness is 



88 HISTORY OF THE 

not a bad imitation of it, and hence we say " An 
cuan agus na tonnan a' beucdi&h;" i.e. the ocean 
and its billows roaring. It was well for Adam the 
lion did not play upon this second key first, when 
showing what to be called. If it had, the good 
Patriarch's labour, probably, had had an end, at 
leastfor a time. Paradise would have fled affrighted, 
and the more timid animals would have yielded up 
their new-obtained life for very horror ! 

Courteous reader ! We are now about to enter 
upon sacred ground, and, therefore, request more 
than ordinary attention ! In the oldest writing in 
the world, namely, the Egyptian hieroglyphics, the 
lion is the letter £, and the letter L, by a slight 
change in the organs of speech, may be sound- 
ed al, el, il, or la, le, li, lid. We take it for 
granted that you are aware of writing having been 
during the first ages of society purely pictorial — 
that instruction, scientific as well as moral, was, 
for want of a better medium, conveyed by figures of 
animals, and other objects possessing some analogy 
or natural relation. Of this order was the symboli- 
cal representation called ^VO crub, (cherub) posted 
by God himself at the entrance of paradise, and 
supposed to exhibit the face of a man, of a lion, of 
an ox, and of an eagle. The use of such symbols 
or emblems, as we shall by and by see, gave rise to 
letters : the abuse of them produced idolatry. 
Egypt, you will allow, was a very early settle- 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 89 

ment : we would say well nigh 2000 years before 
the birth of Moses, and contemporaneous with 
Adam. Whatever the flood may have done to them, 
those who survived that calamity may have found 
their way back, in which case nothing would be 
new to them. 

But the first settlers, whoever they were, must 
have suffered, in no small degree for some time 
from the river Nile. That river came down from 
the Nubian heights once a-year, and without rain or 
other apparent cause, overflowed its margins for 
forty or fifty miles ; sweeping away in its progress 
man, woman, and child — life and property ! This 
phenomenon put the intelligent and exalted animal 
man to his shifts : he consulted and watched the 
heavenly bodies, and, after a long and, probably, 
laborious observation, he discovers that the chief 
increase of the Nile is when the sun is in the con- 
stellation Leo, or lion, so called because the out- 
line of this group of stars bears a fancied resemblance 
to that noble animal. The constellation was after- 
wards worshipped as supposed to influence the 
waters ; the lion was made the symbol on earth of 
that particular period, which was about the summer 
solstice, hence called Il-Leoin> and, by and by the 
symbol itself was made an object of worship. 
Thus the letter L became a cabalistic or sacred 
letter of the first order, the radix being in the note 
of the lion. 



90 HISTORY OF THE 

We are borne out here by several very distin- 
guished authorities. Thus Bryant in his " Plagues 
of Egyp^ p. 86. 

" As the chief increase of the Nile was when the sun was 
passing through the constellation Leo, the Egyptians made the 
lion a type of inundation : — all effusions of water were specified 
by this character ; and from hence has been the custom of 
making the water which proceeds from cisterns and reservoirs, 
as well as spouts from the roof of buildings, come through the 
mouth of a lion." 

In Tartary, also, and in Persia the lion was em- 
blematic of the sun; and hence, on the national 
banner of Persia, a lion was emblazoned with the 
sun rising from his back. The Egyptians taught 
that the creation of the world took place when the 
sun rose in the sign Leo, and, therefore, that sign 
has been esteemed the peculiar habitation of the sun. 
Thus we come to find the sun and the sign resembling 
a lion united, and, consequently, receiving equal wor- 
ship — equal names — equal adoration, as the creative 
and fructifying powers. The reader has now arrived 
at the reason why el became expressive of God, 
of day, and of water. Take we for example sbtf 
Ala, the name of the god of the Chaldeans : Celtic 
Ala, or Ola, a distinguished personage, a leader, a 
doctor; Alail, god-like; La or /o, the sun, day; Al 
orli, water; linn, a dam of water, the ocean; lod, a 
pool ; loch, a lake ; Ion, a dub. This furnishes the 
student with the leading idea of such nouns as 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 91 

follow : Leo-polis and Leontopolis, ancient cities of 
Egypt where the sun was worshipped through the 
lion : Leonades, a Spartan chief, probably from 
having the lion for his escutcheon : Lyne, the name 
of a river in Staffordshire, and also of a tributary 
of the Tweed in Peebles-shire : Laden, a river of 
Durham ; also a stream of Arcadia : Lite, the 
Celtic name for the water of Leith : Alun, a river 
in Cornwall : Allen, in Dorsetshire : Alaun, in 
Lanarkshire: Allan, in Stirlingshire: Elben, Elver, 
and Elbe, are varieties. These, together with many 
more kindred terms, are all natural Celtic terms, 
replete with history, the hero of which is water 
as a divinity, a subtle and fugacious god, but wor- 
shipped, even to the moment we are writing, so far 
east as the Ganges ; so far west as Tipperary in 
Ireland ; as the terms, indeed, indicate. The 
radicals g, n, g, in Ganges, being sacred and doubly 
expressive of Aug, the god of rain, and once of Ain, 
river, as the latter is in pure Celtic, the icell of 
worship. 

Cou, abbreviated cu, a dog. Gen. sing, and 
nom. plur. coin or cdin. u Smath a chumadh bit' air 

mo chu," i.e. Well proportioned was my dog 

Ossian. " Leig tad na coin sron ri srdin," i.e. 
Nose to nose off set the dogs. — Stew. 560. The 
radix is in the note of a heavy species of dog, 6u ; 
hence, co&hart, a bark : co&hartaich, barking : 
c&thach, hydrophobia, because caused by the bite 



92 HISTORY OF THE 

of a dog. This is the cards major, or larger dog, 
represented in the frontispiece, as we shall presently 
explain more clearly. 

Av ag, or Aug, a terrier, a little dog, the radix 
being in its light and quick yelp, au-au. Arabic, 
aiv-wa, a dog. So also our lexicons, " Tauthun, a 
bark, a yelp : tathanich, a baying or barking/' 
Irish, tathfan. Here we find ourselves again upon 
sacred ground. Our astronomical ancestors finding 
it necessary to prepare for the overflowing of the 
Nile, found cut by observation that when a certain 
star made its vertical appearance, the inundation, 
or annual deluge, was at hand; all wanted now 
was a beacon which would signify to the people to 
retire to the high grounds ; and this Ingenuity soon 
found out in the yelping terrier, having a natural rela- 
tion to that star in use, namely, in warning of danger: 
hence the star received the name of dog-star, or 
of canicular, canopus, oug, tau, &fc. This dog, or 
at least its head, was exhibited upon a pole, and 
sometimes upon a figure resembling a man, which 
sign being more compound, received the appellation 
of Es-cu ; from Esh, a man, and Cu, a dog — the man- 
dog. This sign was afterwards deified; and, taking 
another divinity into partnership, became the god 
of physic under the appellation of Esculapian, or 
with a Latin termination, Esculapius. This is by 
no means a discovery of ours : all we want to prove 
is that these terms are Celtic and natural. Thus 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 93 

Mr John Fellows, speaking of the fourth key of the 
Egyptian symbolical writing : — 

" It was," says he, " the figure of a man with a dog's head, 
wearing oftentimes a pole with one or two serpents twisted 
about it. The meaning and intention of the sign shown in the 
assembly at the rising of the dog-star, was to advise the 
people to run away and give attention to the depths of the 
'inundation, and to secure their lives and substance. The 
names given to this public sign were Anubus, the barker, the 
giver of advices, or Tahaat* the dog, or JEscuIapius the 
man-dog." 

We have now, the reader will allow, unveiled the 
divinity Tau, Teut, Taaut, Tit, or Thoth. He is 
neither more nor less than that terrier in our frontis- 
piece, sitting upon the pole representing the dog- 
star, and, perhaps, originally the deity of fecundity 
and generation. His worshippers naturally received 
the appellation of Teutones, Titans, fyc, and his 
memory rendered the character T, or Tau, Cabal- 
istical, or sacred. We have also arrived at the 
primitive idea of the national appellation Cush ; 
from Cu, a dog, and Esh, a man : equivalent to 
2Es~cu, Scuthai, Cuthites, Cutheans, Kumerians, 
worshippers of the man-dog ; they seized upon the 
regions of Babylonia and Chaldea, and constituted 
the first kingdom, probably, upon earth: they 
differed from the then Arabians, Oreitce, Eruthre- 



* Tahut is properly the barker, not Anubus. 



94 HISTORY OF THE 

ans, and Ethiopians but in name ; as we shall very 
soon show. 

But while we notice cu and tau, why should the 
third be overlooked, namely, aug ? Why, we have 
it abbreviated in Og, Ogham^ or Ogimns, the deity 
whose worship was conveyed to western Europe by 
our Phoenician fathers, and established in Ireland 
and Gaul : we have it in Ogygus, who, according 
to Castor, was a Titanean king. # We have it not 
abbreviated in y\y Aug^ or Oug> Hierarch and king 
of Bashan, or Argob, assuming the name of his 
tutelar god.f We have it in the Hou, Hou, of the 



* te Eo autem tempore Titanorum reges agnoscebantur ; 
quorum unus erat ogygus rex." Vide, " Chaldean Frag- 
ments? p. 65. 

f " Sandford, Dickinson, Vossius, and Gale, concur in 
identifying ' Og, king of Bashan' with the Typhon, or Python 
of mythology. I cannot say that the same arguments^which 
weighed with these men have brought me to the same conclu- 
sion ; but this much cannot, I think, be denied, that there is a 
strong connexion between the worship of Og, and Ophio- 
latreia. Beyond this, I would not desire to press the argument 
— but up to this point I would urge it." — Deane, on the 
" Worship of the Serpent? pp. 95, 96. 

If this view of the text may be entertained, Og's ftH^ 
Orsh, rendered his bedstead, namety, of iron, and about 16 
feet long, might, perhaps, be as happily rendered Aur-esh, or 
Auger -pole f 

" The Augur," says Lempriere, " generally sat on a high 
tower, (in imitation of the Aug, or Taut, on the column, or pole 
of the Nile ?) to make his observations. His face was turned 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 95 

Indian Mahommetans, a term by which they invoke 
their deity in the season of penance: and in Ogyges, 
the son of Terra, of the Greeks. This deity ren- 
dered the characters C, T, and G, sacred and 
ineffable, as will appear by and by. 

Next to Aug, or the dog-star, in fancied influence, 
the constellation called the southern cross seems to 
have found a place.* Whether this be the prototype 
or not it is very certain that the people of Egypt, 
time out of mind, used a pole crossed with one or 
more transverse pieces and ending like a capital T. 
One of the names of this piece of device was Mika, 
the Celtic mich, or meigh, i.e. a measure, a balance, 
scales : and its other name Tau, or Taut, i.e. the 

towards the east. With a crooked staff he divided the face of 
the heavens into four different parts, and afterwards sacrificed 
to the gods, covering his head with his vestments." We are 
thus minute with regard to the term, not so much for the sake 
of criticism as with a view to vindicate Truth, and shut the 
mouth of the infidel, who rejects the whole Bible on account 
of this text, which, allowing Or-esh, our view of it is effected. 
That supernatural power was conceded to the Slac-an-drui - 
eachdi i.e. the Druid-wand, or magic-wand, is undeniable ; 
and is perhaps the thing prohibited in Hosea, viz., i{ My people 
ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto 
them." Parkhurst, in despair, makes it " The mattress of Og 
was a mattress of iron." This is little better. Might not his 
mattress have been decorated with solar, and other emblems 
of divination. 

* See Captain Basil Hall's description of this curious con- 
stellation, in "Fragments of Voyages." 



96 HISTORY OF THE 

barker, perhaps from its relation in design as 
a monitor. It might have been, as indeed some 
writers assert it was, an invention to ascertain the 
height of the inundation, upon which depended the 
natural salvation of Egypt, and afterwards deified 
as a thing possessing saving virtue by Ignorance 
and Superstition. Abbe Pluche says in reference 
to it, 

" This pole or staff obtained the name of Caduceus, or 
Mercury's wand ; they hung it on the neck of sick persons, 
and put it in the hands of all beneficent deities as a figurative 
sign of deliverance from evil." 

" We have seen," says Fellows, "how the cross, as well 
entire as abridged, was the mark of the increase of the 
Nile, because it was the measure of it. The cross in their 
vulgar writing, as likewise in the ancient Hebraic {Sama- 
ritan ?) character, and in the Greek and Latin alphabets 
was the letter Tau. This cross or T, suspended by a ring, 
was taken by the Egyptians for deliverance from evil." 

The same Tautic emblem has been found by 
Bruce on obelisks and monuments among the ruins 
of Axium in Abyssinia. After this we must watch 
the character T as sacred. The Celtic reader 
will recognise this divinity, and acting in character, 
too, namely, in warning of danger in the Crann 
Tare of his fathers, " Ciod so an solus an Innis- 
Phail o Chrann-Tarai an fhuathais." — Oss. i.e. 
What light is this from the land of Auph-El, (or 
the island of the serpent-god, Ireland,) from the 
dread Crann Tau-Re. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 97 

When a Highland chieftain received any slight 
from another, or when he had reason to apprehend 
an invasion, he straightway formed a cross of wood, 
seared its extremities in the fire, and extinguished 
it in the blood of some animal, commonly a goat : 
he next gave it to some messenger, who imme- 
diately ran with it to the nearest hamlet, and 
delivered it to the first faithful vassal he met, men- 
tioning merely the place of gathering. This person 
proceeded to the next village or camp ; and thus, 
from place to place, ran this Barker, or Tautic 
monitor with incredible celerity. Not to obey the 
summons was death. In the year 1745, this Crann, 
or Crois-Taicre traversed the district of Bra'd 
Albin, upwards of 30 miles, in three hours ! 

We learn from the learned Kircher, that the 
Caduceus was originally expressed by the simple 
figure of a cross, by which its inventor, Thoth, 
is said to have symbolized the four elements which 
proceeded from a common centre. " This symbol/' 
says he, " after undergoing some alterations, was 
used as a letter of the Egyptian alphabet, and 
called from its inventor Tau, or Taut." Yes, 
Caduceus itself is but a Celtic compound destroyed 
by the euphonizing Greeks — namely, Cu-dd-ec, 
from the two niches, or two transverse pieces of 
wood already alluded to, as " the Key of the Nile." 
The next form assumed by this remarkable symbol, 



98 HISTORY OF THE 

was 2 , where we have the radical idea of the 
term under consideration, Tau-Re. Me being 
in Celtic, the sun, a star, by figure, any round 
object whatsoever. It is supposed that an allu- 
sion is made to this mystic sign T in Ezekiel ix. 4, 
where God directs the man clothed in linen, who 
had the writing inkhorn by his side, to set "a 
mark" upon the foreheads of those who lamented 
the prevalence of idolatry in Jerusalem. The 
original phrase is, set a m Tu or Tau upon their 
foreheads. The vulgate preserves the real meaning 
of the command, — " mark with the letter Tau the 
foreheads." Now, it has been ceded by the learned 
long ago, that in the Samaritan character in which 
Ezekiel wrote, the n was cruciform, in the shape 
of our T, or the Coptic Dau. May we suppose 
this to have been the mark, or sign, or symbol, 
given to, or put upon Cain ? The Hebrew is niH> 
Ayr, or Tau. The hieroglyphic for a pope, a 
bishop, or abbot, is a cross! Has the term Tattoo 
any analogy here ? Does St Paul allude to this 
sign of consecration to the Deity when he says, 
" I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus ?" 
Amongst the Greeks the sign of acquittal was a 
T. Popery may boast of an ancient religion, if 
Paganism really be a matter of boasting. God 
alone knows, however, what the moral lesson of the 
sign was at one period. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 99 

To trace the emblem of the cross no farther 
back than St Andrew, or even the crucifixion, is 
a glaring error. 

ie No one will question," as O'Brien says, " but Venus 
was antecedent to that date, and she is represented with a 
cross and a circle. Jupiter, also, it will be admitted, was 
anterior to that time, and we find him delineated with a cross 
and a horn ; and Plato asserts that the cross, or form of the 
letter X, was imprinted upon the universe." 

i( How it came to pass," says Skelton, "that the Egyptians, 
Arabians, and Indians, before Christ came among us — and the 
inhabitants of the extreme northern parts of the world, ere 
they had so much as heard of him — paid a remarkable venera- 
tion to the sign of the cross, is to me unknown, but the fact 
itself is known. In some places this sign was given to men 
accused of a crime, but acquitted: and in Egypt it stood for 
the signification of Eternal life."* 

" The Druids," adds Schedius, "seek studiously for an oak 
tree, large and handsome, growing up with two principal arms 
ill form of a cross, beside the main stem upright. If the two 
horizontal arms are not sufficiently adapted to the figure, they 
fasten a cross beam to it."f 

To multiply proof of the Pagan origin of the 
cross would be superfluous. To worship it now as 
the transverse pole on which Christ was crucified, 
bespeaks ignorance and superstition: " Ye worship 
ye know not what." 

The very appellative Andrew, or as ice pronounce 
it, Ain Drul\ is Egyptian, and resolvable into Ain, 

* Appeal to Common Sense, p. 45. 
t De Morib. German xxiv. 



100 HISTORY OF THE 

river, and Drui\ Astrologer, Druid ! This per- 
sonage in Egypt had the charge of two keys, which, 
at the close of the year, he exhibited back to back y 
to signify to the people the closing of the old year y 
and the opening of the new. 

" Among the emblems of masonry in Cross' chart," says 
Fellows, " is the figure of a key, which is also generally dis- 
played in masonic Monitors. The Key was the attribute of 
Anubus, the dog-star, in after-times denominated Mercury, 
and indicated the closing of one year, and opening of another ; 
because the Egyptians formerly commenced the year at the 
rising of this star. Its employment was afterwards extended 
to the shutting and opening the place of departed spirits. The 
Popes of Rome now claim it as their appropriate badge of 
office." 

It is worthy of being remarked here, that while 
Iuchair is the Celtic for a key, luchair, by figure, 
is also our name for the season called Dog-days I 

This is the Eucharist of paganism, and, by a 
natural transposition, ' Carats, Lent ; the origin 
being in the fastings and sacrifices of the people on 
high places, to propitiate the gods during the forty 
days the Nile took to rise. Caris, to watch, is 
from the same radix. We also, by further exten- 
sion of the figure, apply the term to a female fish, 
or to the roe or spawn, because the dog-days may 
be said to be the spawning season of Nature ! 
We have a holiday called " Eph-El-Ain-Drui." 

Perhaps our Saviour refers to this practice in 
his address to Peter : " I will give thee the keys 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 101 

(not of Paganism, but) of the kingdom of heaven." 
I will make thee an officer of a far other dispen- 
sation. 

Let us now suppose a few of the serpent tribe 
passing before Adam in order that he may see 
what to call them. Of these there were at least 
ten species known to the ancients : we shall take 
up four of them and show their names to be natural, 
and corroborative of our grand proposition. 

Auph, or Eph, a species of serpent called by us 
now by transposition, and for the sake of euphony, 
Behir, or Beithir ; Hebrew n^DH Ephoe, the radix 
being in be. This serpent, if our principle be true 
to itself, must possess some property akin to an 
animal which we call A up, or Ap, the Ape. There 
is this difference, however, that while ph in the 
former allows the breath to escape, p in the latter 
confines it. This is rather a nice point, and may 
not be passed over without some argument. We 
have all observed that the common note of the 
Ape is aup, accompanied with a toss of its head 
and a scowl. But, 

" Auph, Oph, Effah" says Jackson in his account of 
Morocco, " is the name of a serpent remarkable for its quick 
and penetrating poison : it is about two feet long, as thick as 
a man's arm, beautifully spotted with yellow and brown, and 
sprinkled over with blackish specks similar to the horn-nosed 
snake. They have a wide mouth by which they inhale a great 
quantity of air, and when inflated therewith they eject it 
with such force as to be heard at a considerable distance" 



102 , HISTORY OF THE 

Here now we are arrived at the radix : the 
animal inhales and ejects, and in this act produces 
the sound eph ; Adam, consequently, marks him 
down Eph, and after-generations concur in the wis- 
dom, the propriety of the name. The reader is 
now introduced to the author of the character^ as 
we shall immediately see. 

In the serene sky of the east, the Chaldeans and 
Egyptians could watch the motions of the planetary 
worlds to advantage. Finding a certain group 
having a fancied resemblance to this serpent : this 
serpent must naturally be made the representative 
on earth of that constellation; hence now called 
Scorpio, or, perhaps, " Serpens Ophio." To us 
it appears that the sun and this sign of the zodiac 
met when the harvest was ripe, from the Celtic 
term for that period, namely, Phau'r, the radix 
being in auph, transposed. Be this as it may, it 
became a divinity like the rest, as did also, in 
process of time, its earthly symbol. We are now 
about to enter upon ground more sacred, if possible, 
than any spot we have hitherto visited. " The 
name of the sacred serpent," says Bryant,* " was 
in the ancient language of Canaan, variously pro- 
nounced Aub, Ab, Oub, Ob, Oph, Eph or Ev, all 
referrible to the original niN Aub, which, perhaps, 
applied to the serpent from his peculiarity of infla- 

* Aut. Myth. i. 58, et passim. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 103 

tion when irritated." Here we see clearly what 
thing it was that Moses would visit with capital 
punishment: "A man also or woman that hath 
(niS Aub) a familiar spirit, shall surely be put to 
death."* It is remarkable, that while this object 
of execration is rendered in the Scottish version of 
the Celtic Bible, " Leannan sith" literally, a 
fairy ', or elfish sweetheart ; Bishop Bedel has it 
" Spiorad Tath uightheach" i.e. the spirit of 
barking! The Welsh " Spryd Deiciniaeth" is equi- 
valent. The name Buitseach, a witch, is better, 
the radix b being a contraction of aub. The 
difference is no more than a confusion of the leading 
idea : the thing condemned is the same, but under 
a different symbol. 

The Seventy who render it ventriloquist, i.e. one 
inflated, and speaking from his belly, take up the 
real idea. Here we are necessarily led to the 
celebrated witch of Fmdor. The Hebrew is 
"H *p2 n^S Aub oin dr, i.e. Aub, the puffing sacred 
serpent, or, perhaps, in a secondary sense, the 
priest or priestess of that species of false worship ; 
Oin, a well, a river; and Dr, or Dair, a grove.f 
This Aub or Ob is, indeed, the first oracle men- 
tioned in history, and as such it demands more than 



* Lev. xx. 27. 

•f* Endor, Fons, sive oculis generationis, &c. Vide, " Ono- 
masticum Sacrum." 



104 HISTORY OF THE 

ordinary scrutiny. To follow its traces fromParadise 
to Peru would be no difficult task ; but, in a work 
like this, it might appear redundant. We shall, 
therefore, satisfy ourselves, and, we trust, the 
reader too, by submitting a few historical remarks 
relative thereto. And, before we begin, let us fore- 
warn the reader to mark appellatives partaking of 
Eph, Oph, Ab, Op, 8fc. : for instance, Eph- Ait, our 
Celtic name for Egypt ; Ophis, the Greek name for 
a serpent, whence Ophiolatreia, or serpent-worship; 
Ab, as in Arab ; Ob, as in O&ed-Edom ; and Op, 
as in Copt, Coptic, Ethiop, Europe, Sfc. — all sym- 
bolical terms expressive of the serpent or solar wor- 
ship, and generally embracing a Trinity. The rapidity 
of speech, indeed, has been the means of mystifying 
the root still more : in the following instances, viz., 
Phceni, Phoenician, Phiantich, Phamair, Famores 
Sfc — terms which have their radices in Eph or Oph, 
transposed, and equivalent to Eph-At, Egypt; 
Ophites, the name of a Cadmian colony which 
settled in .Boetia, and said to have been led by a 
Serpent. 

61 The serpent among the Amorites," says Bryant, " was 
styled Oph, Eph, and Ope; by the Greeks expressed op$ t 
Ouiri$ ; which terms were continually combined with the 
different titles of the Deity. This worship prevailed in 
Babylonia, Egypt, and Syria, from which countries it was 
brought by the Cadmians into Greece." 

" The Arabs," says Philastratus, " worshipped the serpent 
to that degree, that they ate the heart and liver of serpents !" 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 105 

Sanchoniatho, who is considered to be the most 
ancient writer of the Pagan world, and who com- 
posed in the Celtic or Phoenician language, after- 
wards translated into Greek by Philo Byblius, 
writes thus : — 

"Taautus first attributed something of the divine nature to 
the serpent and the serpent tribe ; in which he was followed 
by the Phoenicians and Egyptians. For this animal was 
deemed by him the most inspired of all the reptiles, and of a 
fiery nature ; inasmuch as it exhibits an incredible celerity, 
moving by its spirit without either hands or feet, or any of 
those external members by which other animals effect their 
motion. And in its progress it assumes a variety of forms, 
moving in a spiral course, and darting forward with whatever 
degree of swiftness it pleases. It is moreover long-lived, and 
has the quality, not only of putting off its old age, and assum- 
ing a second youth, but of receiving at the same time an 
augmentation of its size and strength. And when it has 
fulfilled the appointed measure of its existence, it consumes 
itself ; as Taautus has laid down in the sacred books ; upon 
which account this animal is introduced in the sacred rites 
and mysteries" Euseb. lib. i. c, 10. 

This was the understanding of Sanchoniatho, 

and, probably, that of his day and generation ; but 

we are inclined to consider it as a degenerate view 

of the symbol. 

" The first God," says Orpheus, " bears with himself the 
heads of animals, many, and single ; of a bull, of a serpent, 
of a fierce lion, and they sprung from the primeval (mun- 
dane) egg" 

This carries us back again into Egypt, and is 
equivalent to the Chaldean oracle, viz., 
e 2 



106 HISTORY OF THE 

"He assimilates, professing to cast around him 

the form of images." % 

But this is perhaps digressing. 

"Oph" says Bryant in another place, "signifies a serpent, 
and is pronounced at times, and expressed Ope, Oupis, Opis, 
Ops, and by Cicero Upis" 

After this we will do well to watch the characters 
By Ph or F, P, and V> as Cabalistic or sacred ; the 
serpent being the prototype and hieroglyphic of 
them all, in that sense. Hitherto we refrained from 
explaining the term Cabala : but, having now, we 
flatter ourselves, prepared the mind of the reader 
for the comprehension thereof, the explanation will 
form part of our next chapter. 

" What are ages and the lapse of time, 
Matched against truths as lasting as sublime ? 
Fixed in the rolling flood of endless years, 
The pillar of the eternal plan appears." . 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 107 



CHAPTER IV. 



'* Never change barbarous names, for there are names in every nation given from 
God, having unspeakable efficacy in the mysteries." — Chaldean Oracle. 



THE CABALA EXPLAINED ADAM STILL NAMING THE 

BEASTS OF THE FIELD — SERP, PYTHON, NACHS, &C. 

UNVEILED PROOFS OF THE GREAT PREVALENCE OF 

SERPENT WORSHIP, &C. 

We take it for granted that the reader is now pre- 
pared to ascend with us another step in the ladder 
of observation, and survey that rather occult object 
called Cabala. Thus, then, Johnson on the term : — 

" Cabal, s. (cabale, Fr. nb^p &ble, tradition.) 

1. The secret science of the Hebrew rabbins. 

2. A body of men united in close design. 

3. Intrigue." 

We may be allowed a doubt whether this threefold 
explication have furnished the learner with the 
ideal meaning of this important trisyllable. He 
is informed, it is true, that the French for the same 
term is Cabale, and the Hebrew Kble ; but where 
is the French — where is the Hebrew from ? Where 
is the root — the radix — the primary leading idea ? 
Answer ; Rather occult. If by this answer we 



108 HISTORY OF THE 

libel the reader, we beg pardon; but, presuming 
we do not, let us search further. 

" Cabala, nb^p &ble, tradition," says Calmet, " is a mys- 
tical mode of expounding the law, which the Jews say was 
discovered to Moses on Mount Sinai, and has been from him 
handed down by tradition. It teaches certain abstruse and 
mysterious significations of a word or words in Scripture ; 
from whence are borrowed, or rather forced, explanations, by 
combining the letters which compose it. This Cabala is of 
three kinds : the Gernatry,ihe Notaricon, and the Themuralu 
or change. The first consists in taking the letters of a Hebrew 
word for arithmetical numbers, and explaining every word by 

the arithmetical value of the letters which compose it 

The second consists of taking each letter of a word for an 
entire diction. The third kind of Cabala consists in trans- 
position of letters, placing one for another, or one before an- 
other, much after the manner of anagrams." 

This is all we wanted. The Jews may say that 
this species of free-masonry was discovered to 
Moses on mount Sinai, and from him handed down 
by tradition ; but, with deference, we would pre- 
sume that it was discovered, nay, taught to him in 
Egypt, for " Moses was learned in all the wisdom 
of the Egyptians :" the rest of the Hebrews being 
slaves, it was incompetent to initiate them into the 
mysteries. Well: the science Cabala " teaches 
certain abstruse and mysterious significations of a 
word or words." Yes : the characters C, B> L> 
we have made clear, were produced — the first by 
the symbolic dog, the second by the symbolic 
serpent, and the third by the symbolic lion. This 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 109 

circumstance rendered theseletters sacred ; they are, 
indeed, a Pagan Trinity, and that is all the mystery 
— that is the leading idea ! A dog, a serpent, and 
a lion, constitute the term. 

" Hieroglyphics," says Warburton, in his divine Legation, 
M were a real written language, applicable to the purposes of 
history and common life, as well as those of religion, and 
mythology." 

" Hieroglyphics," says Zoega, " are letters; and like letters 
they are arranged in lines, and express sentiments, actions, 
and ideas. For by their shape they are Pictures, by their 
disposition, Letters " 

This is, in our opinion, a happy definition. 

The third branch of this mystery consists, it 
would appear, "in transposition of letters, placing 
one for another.'' Place we now, by way of 
example, the letter R for L, and we produce 
Ca6an, a term for the Pagan instructors of occult 
learning, and equivalent to Cabala. Herodotus, 
speaking of the " Cabirian mysteries," says that 
the Samothracians learned them of the Pelasgi, 
which last appellative is itself Cabaric or Cabalistic. 
" The Cabari," says Montfaucon, " were a sort of 

deities about whom the ancients differ much 

Some call them the sons of Vulcan, others of 
Jupiter." They w r ere three sacred ones, equal to 
the Penetes of the Latins. 

This quotation may not stand singly and alone : 
we shall bring to its support rather a stout prop 
from Pluche. 



110 HISTORY OF THE 

" The Cabiri of Samothracia, or three principal figures," 
says he, " of the Egyptian ceremonial, were carried to Berytus 
in Phoenicia, and thence into several islands of the iEgian 

sea. Their worship became very famous They were 

called the Cabiri ( Cabirium Potentes), meaning the power- 
ful gods, and their name of Cabiri, which is Phoenician, was 
as much used in Egypt as in Phoenicia itself; which is a 
standing proof of the mixture of the Phoenician terms with 
the Egyptian language, if the ground of both be not exactly 
the same" 

And again, same page — 

" They often add to these a fourth god, which they some- 
times call Mercury, which signifies a minister or messenger, 
in all which it is plain that we again meet with the four 
principal Keys of the ancient Egyptian writing, changed on 
account of their human figure into so many tutelar and 
powerful gods." 

Put we S for C, and we have Sibil, another equi- 
valent term.* The ideal meaning is in the group 
of animals or tutelar trinity of Pagan- worship, 
whether tattooed on the body, or cut upon stones 
or round Golumns : each animal or emblem is a 



* Most people have read of the Sibyline books. A woman 
came once to Tarquin with nine books of the oracles of the 
Sybils, which she offered to sell : the king hesitating about 
the price, she went away and burned three of them, and then 
came and asked the same price for the remaining six. He 
again refused to accede to her demand, when she went away 
and burned three more, and returning, still asked the same 
price. The Augurs advised the king to pay her, and preserve 
the books as sacred, which was done. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. Ill 

letter with a syllabic power, and of its own making, 
and each letter a Divinity — which circumstance con- 
stitutes them " sacred," " mysterious," " ineffable." 

11 Many Egyptian monuments," says the learned Lord Pre- 
sident Forbes, " show two, sometimes three heads of different 
creatures to one body ; the heads sometimes of dogs, some- 
times of lions, sometimes of eagles, or hawks, &c., and no one 
can doubt but each of these representations was symbolicaV 

Yes, a compound figure of a dog and a lion, in 
the Cahari make C, L ; giving these their syllabic 
power we read Cou-El : with a human head 
introduced C, L, S, Coueles : with, instead of 
the human figure, a terrier or a cross, C, L, T, 
Celt! Of this there is a Druidical column in 
Largo, in Fifeshire, the property of General 
Durham, highly illustrative. The lion, the ser- 
pent, the bull, the barker — in short, the most of 
the constellations, as on the Farnese globe — are 
displayed in bold relief upon that most curious 
relic of antiquity. The writer was not a little 
struck — when, in visiting this stone and other anti- 
quities of Fifeshire, in the autumn of last year, in 
company with the scientific Mr Kyle of Glasgow, 
and the Naturalist Mr John Wood of Colinsburgh — 
to find how very forcibly these hieroglyphics reverbe- 
rated "a tale of the days of old — of the deeds of 
other years." Thus, in looking up to one of the 
half-decayed arched Archives of St Andrew's, 
you observe a star, a dog, and a lion. A star, 



112 | HISTORY OF THE 

in Celtic, is Re, a dog, Aug, and the lion or eagle 
El; which produce the name of the founder, 
jRepru/us ! Kil, Re, Eph-Ain, its Celtic name, is 
equivalent. We have never seen the Rosetta 
stone in London, but we see it in the name R, 
S, T, Ro-Esh-Tau — a circle, a man, and a cross 
or a dog — with probably their attributes, severally, 
if not their history? This accounts for the name 
of Fife, (Ff,) and of that of the beautiful hill 
Largo, as also of that of the tattooed worshippers, 
Bret&nich, Alb&riioh, Horestii, Pehs, &c. 

The ideal meaning, indeed, of most appellatives 
having relation to religion, moral greatness, or even 
beauty, will be found to be Cabalistic. We would 
venturehere to instance the term Pa^amsm. Ar-Ab, 
Kphvic, Epht, Roinn- Or- Pa, (i.e. the division of 
Or us or Aur, and Op.) "Europa," says Bryant, "was 
a deity ; and the name is a compound — Eur-ope, 
analogous to Canope, Canophis, and Camphis of 
Egypt, and signifies ' Orus Pytho.' y ' Eur, is but 
Aur euphonised, as in Aur-Ghdel, i.e. Argyle. 
Oracle, Spain, Jupiter, Apolo, Neptune, PAaraoh, 
Abst&l, Cusp&n, (i.e. tribute, tax, custom ;) lEspic, 
a bishop, Targra^achd, i.e. prediction, prophecy, 
Tubal, Sen&ler, a General, " Oran," the sun-priest 
of Iona, and shall we add the much-disputed thing 
confounded on the plains of Shin&r, Spt,* are all 

* Esh, the man, Op, the serpent, and Tau, the barker-god. 
— See under Pait. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 113 

Cabalistic in their ideal signification ! The radical 
letters, representing each an animal or divinity, 
we put in italics : the reader may determine the 
group implied. 

Having so far explained the sacred language, it 
becomes us now, in prosecution of our plan, to 
attend to Adam giving names to a few more of the 
animals. 

vpw Srp, or Srph, a serpent. The characteristic 
property of this species of serpent, if our principle 
be true, is, not blowing or puffing like the Ouph, 
but, vibration. And here we are borne out by 
sacred authority, which, we trust, will be satisfactory 
to all our readers. It would appear from Isaiah 
vi. 2, that each of this species had M six icings" 
and with these, like the Dragon-fly, they must have 
made a strange surr sort of noise, as they vibrated 
their way through the air : the Celtic srrann, and, by 
corruption, the English snore, are equivalent. This 
is the "Hie Sur-Sur" of Brahminism ! Some 
writers doubt the existence of flying serpents ; but 
these must doubt at least our translation of the 
Bible; for in Isaiah xxx. 6, we read of " the fiery 
flying serpent," which is corroborated by the vener- 
able Herodotus, who says, 

{i There is a place in Arabia, near the city Butos, which I 
visited for the purpose of obtaining information concerning 
the winged serpent. I saw here a prodigious quantity of 
serpents' bones and ribs, placed on heaps of different heights. 



1 14 HISTORY OF THE 

The place itself is a strait betwixt two mountains ; it opens 
upon a wide plain which communicates with Egypt, They 
affirm that in the commencement of every spring, these winged 
serpents fly from Arabia towards Egypt, but that the ibis here 
meets and destroys them." 

This species of serpent, we would submit, con- 
stitutes part of the compound srp, or £erapis, the 
Egyptian deity, of which Montfau§on gives an 
engraving with a human head and a serpentine tail ; 
and elsewhere with a bull's head. The same divinity 
is referred to by ASarccAomatho in the following 
allegory, viz., 

" But before these things the god Tautus, having pourtrayed 
Owranus, represented also the countenances of the gods 
Cronus and Dagon, and the sacred character of the elements. 
He contrived also for Cronus the ensign of his royal power, 
having four eyes in the parts before and in the parts behind, 
two of them closing as in sleep ; and upon the shoulder^w?' 
icings, two in the act of flying, and two reposing as at rest 
And the symbol, was, that Cronus while he slept was watching, 
and reposed whilst he was awake. And in like manner with 
respect to the wings, that he was flying whilst he rested, yet 

rested whilst he flew And there were also two wings 

upon the head, the one as a symbol of the intellectual part, 
the mind, and the other for the senses," — Ancient Fragments, 
p. 16. 

This will remind the reader of Argus, which term 
is Cabaric and equivalent. 

Bishop Patrick is, indeed, of opinion that the 
tempter, in tempting Eve, assumed the form of a 
beautiful winged serpent, the better to answer his 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 115 

devilish purpose. But herein we may see the use 
of true etymology. We would at once concede the 
point had that serpent been called Srp; as it is not. 
Srp was, it would appear, the species symbolized by 
Moses in the wilderness, as typical of the Saviour — 
" Make unto thee a rpw srp, or srph ;" and is the 
leading idea in the terms seraph, seraphim, searbh- 
anta, serpent, searbh, i.e. bitter, venomous, &c. 

A T athair, pronounced nahiv, a serpent. Hebrew, 
tt?ro nchs. This is the name of the species of 
serpent which was the medium of introducing death 
into our world, and all our woe ! The radix is in 
nd, ?ie, or ni, from its characteristic of producing a 
smacking noise with its mouth or tongue, similar to 
ourselves when in admiration we press the tongue 
against the upper gum and draw it back forcibly, 
thus, nd, nd. The writer has oftentimes been put 
to no small fear, by reason of the same sound 
produced by eels in fresh water ; and hence, in 
passing, the name of the eel in Celtic, Esc-nd, from 
esc, water, and nd, smack. A better medium the 
devil could not easily have found, because, by this 
smacking with the tongue, Eve might suppose herself 
beyond expression admired ; and it seems to have 
been a weakness incorporated with her nature, at 
least with that of all her daughters, to be suscep- 
tible of flattery. A huge sleek animal, perhaps an 
hundred feet long, thus smacking, with a burnished 
crest and a fixed eye, might well attract the attention 



116 HISTORY OF THE 

of inexperienced Eve. Be this as it may, the note 
of this serpent, by analogy, gave rise to not a few 
terms still alive in our vocabulary : for instance ; 
raathrail, venomous, wicked ; m'pheil, poisonous, 
venomous : this, by the way, is the word rendered 
giants in Genesis vi. 4. 

(t The derivation and context," says an able critic upon the 
text, " concur to render it more probable that the word 
nephilim characterized the men who first departed from the 
religion taught by Adam, and who sustained their apostacy 
by acts of violence and oppression." — Vide, "Pictorial 
Bible'— Note. 

If the primary idea of nphlim be not conceded 
to be in the note of this serpent, it must be trans- 
ferred to the Cabala N 9 Ph, L. We have no doubt 
but in the smack, by analogy or figure, is found 
the primary meaning .Afachish, the name of a king 
of the Amorites, who, we are told by Josephus, 
"put out the right eye of those taken by him in 
war, that when the left eye was covered by the 
shield the right might be useless ;" and of Na&Sb- 
mones and JVaso, the former a gigantic people of 
Lybia who lived upon plunder, the latter one of 
the murderers of Julius Caesar; as well as of several 
other terms having reference to noxious qualities. 

The next and last serpent which we shall take 
time to examine is, 

jr© Ptn, or Phtn. Apply we now our principle 
of natural names here, and the characteristic will 
be a Phet, i.e. a whistle, or, perhaps, by analogy, 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 117 

a mouth in formation resembling that of a person 
whistling or about to whistle,— thus, phet, orfead. 
For this reason the plover is called ^edag: the very 
act necessarily engenders the term. And herein we 
are as usual borne out by natural history ; for 
Philarchus informs us that the Egyptians rendered 
a certain sort of serpent " so tame, that they would 
feed from the hands of children, and come from their 
hiding-places when summoned by a noise made with 
the fingers." We all know how shrill a whistle may 
be produced by means of the two fingers, which is 
the root -^ srk, rendered "hiss 9 in scripture. " I 
will hiss (shriek ?) for them that gather them." 
The allusion is made to the serpent-taming, or 
bee-gathering mode of the East. 

If the reader should reject this explanation, let 
him take the other idea — namely, of the mouthbeing 
formed like that of a person in the act of whistling, 
or prepared to whistle — and then turn up the allegory 
handed down by the Puranus, viz, " that a giant 
in the shape of a snake with a mouth like a shell, 
was killed by Christnah ;" and, in connexion, let 
him again take along with him the following appo- 
site fact from Marquis Spineto, viz., " sometimes 
we find Cnouphis, as the good genius, represented 
by a Serpent, a very large reptile, with a beard, 
which the Greeks called Agathodsemon,"* and that 

* Lectures on the Elements of Hieroglyphics, p. 127. 



118 HISTORY OF THE 

will surely satisfy him. That the latter is the 
reason for the name we are, for our own part per- 
fectly satisfied : because at so early a period of 
his career, Adam could have no idea of charming 
serpents by whistling, whereas, by the rules of 
analogy, the alternative is natural and rational. If 
the serpent did not itself whistle, its shell-shaped 
hairy mouth seemed formed for it, and Adam, in 
personifying it, and in attempting to speak with his 
mouth in that form, would, of necessity, produce a 
Pht, or whistle. This is the species of serpent 
which, by analogy again, gave rise to the Celtic 
term for concha-veneris, to wit, Pit, or Pith, and 
also, as usual, to its devotees, whether as tribes or 
as individuals heading the great Pythomaxi cause. 
It became, too, in the natural progress of ideas, a 
special type of fecundity, and transitively, of sensu- 
ality and crime. The following remarks, although 
not altogether to our mind, will not be thrown away 
upon the discerning student. 

Thus the learned Abbe Pluche — 

" Osiris (au-es-au?) being become the common father of 
the Egyptians, was, by degrees, looked upon as the principle 
from which all the good that happened to Egypt sprung ; in 
like manner Phyton, when he was become the name of the 
symbol that signifies the havock of waters, was looked upon 
as an ill-minded spirit, as a principle fond of thwarting, per- 
petually intent upon crossing and prejudicing them. They 
made him the principle of all disorder, and charged him with 
all the physical evils they could not avoid, and all the moral 



CELTTC LANGUAGE. 1 1 9 

evils which they did not care to lay to their own charge. 
Hence came the doctrine of the two opposite principles, 
equally powerful, incessantly striving* against each other,* 
and alternately vanquished and victorious. The aversion of 
the Egyptians xor this Phyton, their imaginary enemy, went 
so far that they no longer dared to pronounce his name. 
However, we find it entire in the language of the Hebrews 
who had dwelt in Egypt, and had contracted the habit of 
- calling by that name the most mischievous of Serpents, that is 
the asp, Peteu.f The entire name of Phyton, or Python, is 
found again in the most ancient and most celebrated fables of 
Paganism" 

" The species," says Linnaeus, if we recollect well, " is not 
small ; it is therefore the Aspic (Aish-Ap) of the ancients ? 
so it is now called by the literati of Cyprus ; but the common 
people call it Kufi ;" " Kov$r ti i.e. deaf," 

adds the writer ! No, say we : Cu-Eph, two 
divinities already treated ; of which Aspic is but a 
Cabalistic placing of the Aish, or man, for the Cou> 
or dog. We need scarcely remind the reader that 
this is the goddess, who, in aftertimes, became so 
famous at Delphi in Greece, principally from having 
told CVcesus what he was cooking at home.t It 
seems to have been the very thing which possessed 
the damsel of whom we read in Actsxvi. 16, called 
a spirit of divination; and the thing which the 
Baptist alludes to in his "generation of vipers." It 

* Plutarch, de Isid. and Osir. 

f This must be an error of the press : the text is Ptn, or 
Phtn, supply what vowels you please. 
t Vide, Herodotus in Clio, p. 14. 



120 HISTORY OF THE 

solves the perplexing term in Heschius, descriptive 
of a distinct tribe, namely, Pitane, of which the 
Delphic PytJiii is but a variety. 

The following is curious taken in connexion. 

" Tuath (Taut ?) in its literal and substantive acceptation 
implies the lingam ; collaterally, magic ; and, by convention, 
mystery, prophets, legislators. Pith, in like manner, denotes 
literally, the Yoni ; collaterally, magic ; and, by convention, 
mystery, prophets, legislators, &c. And the offshots of either 
in an inferior and deteriorated view, Biidhog, from the former, 
and Pithag, from the latter, intimate, and indiscriminately, 
witchcraft, wizard, or witch"* 

Submitting -this without hazarding a criticism on 
a brother who is no more a habitant of this Planet) 
we would further suggest to the reader the appel- 
latives P^Aagoras, the celebrated philosopher 
who flourished about 500 years before Christ, and 
who in Egypt and Chaldea acquired the Symbolic 
wisdom. And from whom ? From the Eph- Taus 
(Egyptians), and from the Cou-El-Taus (Celts, 
or Chaldeans) ; the names being Caribe c n, Celtic, 
or sacred. The very name of his teacher Abaris, 
Aub-Aur, which, by transposition, is equivalent to 
Aur-Aub, and, by placing one Cabala for another, 
to Al-Aub, bespeaks a functionary of the Solar-god. 
This is the man who, having himself been initiated 
into the mysteries of the Celtce, returned and spread 
them over all Greece : so Herodotus — 

* O'Brien's Round Towers of Ireland, p. 257. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 121 

M The people of this country (Egypt), first invented the 
names of the twelve gods, and from them the Grecians 
borrowed them. They were the first also who erected altars, 
and shrines, and temples ; and none before them ever engraved 
the figures of animals on stone" 

To which add we the following from the Classical 
Dictionary, viz., 

" Pythagoras, a celebrated philosopher born at Samos. 

In Egypt and Chaldea he gained the confidence 

of the priests, and learned from them the artful policy, and 
the symbolic writings, by which they governed the princes as 
well as the people ; and after he had spent many years in 
gathering all the information which could be collected from 
antique tradition concerning the nature of the gods, and the 
immortality of the soul, Pythagoras revisited his native 
island." 

P^Aagoras, thus, was an Aurean worshipper 
through the symbol of the Serpent Pyth, whose skin, 
perhaps, he wore, and taught in the Celtic language ! 
Nay, he seems to have acquired all the badges of 
honour — all the degrees which the universities of 
the day could bestow ; for he assumes not only 
Pith, but Oug, Aur, and Esh, i.e. the Barker, the 
sun, or circle, and the man ? Pytheus, the Mas- 
silian so famous for his knowledge of astronomy, 
mathematics, philosophy, and geography ; Pythius, 
a surname of Apollo for his having conquered the 
serpent Python; and Pythicus, P?Yna, &c. seem all 
to be named after this Serpent. That he met 
more than his match in Apollo the reader may 

F 



122 HISTORY OF THE 

safely conclude from the commanding double-hold 
that hero has of him in the celestial globe prefixed, 
— a warfare, probably allegorical of the Sun in the 
sign of the Lion, when he has acquired his full 
vigour, just as that luminary was represented by 
an infant, whose name, H-Arpocrates, is full of 
divinity, when in his first stage from the winter- 
solstice. This is, by the way, the origin of our 
Christmas rejoicing; a feast called Cabalistically 
in Celtic N, L, C, with vowels supplied, "Nolic," 
the ideal meaning being in Oin-El-Ec, a Cabalistic 
group, equivalent to "Oines" " Orion," " Arueri" 
(Aur-Er) and " H-O/w," of Egypt, as well as the 
" H-Orestii" of Fifeshire in Scotland, and by 
transposition to C, L, N, (Colin), the term for 
Hogmanay, with all its clamour and superstitious 
cake-baking — all sacred Celtic terms ! Mr Taylor 
mistakes this Python for the Aub, the idol oiEndor, 
or oak of the font — the difference, to be sure, is 
immaterial, being but the putting of one serpent 
for another. 

But why do we not come nearer home ? Is 
this worship — this divination not implied in our 
Pitag, applied to a woman given to charms? in 
Pit-Alpie, near Dundee ? in P^-cairn, a few miles 
N.W. of Perth? inPzYcathli, about five miles S.W.? 
in Pitcur, an old castle in Forfarshire, with a great 
many more ? This, we flatter ourselves, is leading 
proof: this showing the importance of the Celtic 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 123 

in order to the proper understanding of the classics, 
including the Sacred text. " If," to adopt the 
words of a great writer, " if the human mind can 
ever flatter itself with having been successful in 
discovering the Truth, it is when many facts of 
different kinds unite in producing the same effect." 
To proceed : — . 

E, Aish, Esh, or Esan, he, a man. There is a 
constellation which we have been taught to call 
" the man that bears the watering-pot." This 
divinity, in his month must be represented upon 
earth, and who should represent him but the figure 
of a man ? This is the origin, probably, of the 
functionary described by Bishop Clemens of Alex- 
andria, 

" Who displays in his bosom a jar, or vessel, meant for 
carrying water, a symbol thought to represent the deity, but 
which, more probably, had a reference to the sacred character 
of the Nile. He is attended by persons bearing bread cut 
into slices." 

He is the personage, who, according to Volney, 
was "president of the mysteries." His primary 
name was, of course, Aish 9 the man, the very name 
by which Adam is called in Sacred writ; descriptively 
Pait> or Phait, i.e. paunch-belly, from carrying 
a vessel in his bosom, which must have added not 
a little to his natural protuberance, if it did not 
really make him Peh. Hence, again, officially, 
the Fate of mythology, the Fate of the Latins, 



124 HISTORY OF THE 

and the Faidh, or prophet, of the Celtic Druids. 
This is the functionary formerly alluded to, who, 
grouped with the dog, produced JEs-cii, the man- 
dog ; and, by transposition, Cu-esh, contracted 
Cush. The hieroglyphic for S, is a man, full 
formed, sometimes in one attitude and sometimes 
in another, as may be seen on our globe, and this 
made the character sacred. 

In connexion with his jar or pot of " holy water," 
probably symbolical of the great genial principle of 
Nature, he seems to have received more reverence 
— more sway than any other functionary. In him 
we may rest the leading idea of the term Pater, 
father ; by analogy again, Pater, the Celtic term 
for the Lord's Prayer; and Paterin, our term 
for a rosary, or amulet, also for the Cabalistic 
rhyme. 

Willing as we are to support every thing we 
advance by authority, we may be allowed here to 
quote at least one, who, like us, saw that the term 
was metaphorical, or analogical. 

" I cannot help thinking," says Bryant, " that the word 
5f«T^, pater, when used in the religious addresses of the Greeks 
and Romans, meant not, as is supposed, a father or parent, 
but related to the divine influence of the Deity, called by the 
people of the East Pator, as I have shown. From hence I 
should infer that two words, originally very distinct, have 

been rendered one and the same When it became a 

title, which was bestowed upon gods of every denomination, 
it made Jupiter (iewe-Pater), animadvert with some warmth 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 125 

upon the impropriety (namely, of giving the glory due to him 
to other gods), thus, 

* ■ Ut nemo sit nostrum, quin Pater Optimus Divom est : 
Ut Neptunes Pater, Liber, Saturnus Pater, Mars, 
Janus Quirinus, Pater, omnes dicamur ad unum" 

Is this the term in Psalm xvi. 6, rendered 
" simple" — " The Lord preserveth the simple ?" 
The text is c s sns Pa^aim, or Fatdim, which, 
making allowance for the Hebrew termination, is 
the Celtic Fathin, i.e. Prophets ; nor would it 
detract from the verse to read it so. "Jehovah 
preserveth his Prophets : I (one of them) was 
brought low and he helped me." Be this as it may, 
the term is Celtic and natural, the very personifi- 
cation of the functionary producing Peh, or Petit, 
and is found in -js ]rD ins i&tD Puti, Pro, Cen, An, 
the father-in-law of Joseph, which name a Celt 
will analyze thus — Paut-pru, pot-belly, Cen 9 head, 
chief, and An> river. 

Notwithstanding it be not the immediate business 
of Adam, yet, seeing that we have made the char- 
acter R a sacred one, we shall here take the liberty 
to digress a little to show cause why it became so. 
The sound of i?, as we shall show more fully in 
proper place, is naturally expressive of vibration : 
hence our term for the firmament, including the 
entire host thereof, sun, moon, and stars, whether 
collectively or individually, viz. Ar, or Aur, Or, 
R6, &c. ; for example, 



126 HISTORY OF THE 

(" -Reulta gam falach 'san Aur, 
Ro' cheumaibh nathail na greine."— S. D. 182. 

i.e. Stars hiding themselves in the sky, 
Before the regal steps of the sun. 

" Air an talamh tha fo'm' bhonn, 

Air an Aur as mo cheann, 

Air a grein ud seachad siar, 

Cha'n fhacas riamh do chuid mheann." 

Phingalian Fable. 

i.e. Upon the earth on which I tread, 
Upon the firmament o'er head, 
Upon that sun that journeys west, 
Thy kids I never did molest. ) 

Now it is rather striking to find in connexion 
with this, that the sound and character J?, in hiero- 
glyphics, according to Marquis Spineto, is a circle, 
sometimes with a dot or eye in the centre, and at 
other times eclipsed, also a round tower ; signifying 
that although in jsar/iament assembled, the gods 
assume this and that form, yet, individually con- 
sidered, from the king (the sun), to his queen 
(the moon), and from the queen to the minister, 
and from him downwards, all, all are round. To 
symbolize the host of divinities, therefore, con- 
ventionally or gregariously, what invention can be 
more intelligible than to build a round tower of 
lasting materials to denote the Sun, and place 
around him at least his parliament — his satellites 
— his constellations ? And this is what was really 
resolved in niN Aur^ of the Chaldeans, seconded 
on the plains of Shinar, and carried into Britain, 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 127 

as witness our " Deu-greine" with their hiero- 
grams ! Here have we arrived, then, at the 
primitive idea of every term having reference to 
religion, or, if the reader prefer it, Paganism. 
assuming the sounds Aur, Ar, Er, Or, Re, and Ro, 
as a radix. Let us exemplify the following few, 
viz. Re, a star, a planet, the sun, the moon, em- 
bracing the compound idea of vibration and round- 
ness, and, by metaphor, of a king ; ro-h, round, a 
wheel ; ro, frost, because it causes vibration. This 
is the Aur, or Ar, namely, this symbol of the king 
of planets, which, grouped with Aub, produced 
Arab, Arope, or Europe ; the Egyptian divinity 
Orus ; the Grecian Orpheus; the term Erin, 
Ireland ; # Aur-Aug-El, Argyle; the Orion of Job ; 
the Oracle of the Pagan ; the Herculus of the 
Phoenician, and the English Orrery, which means a 
representation of the Aur or heavens. 

It remains now to show how the letter N became 
sacred. The Celtic reader is aware that Abliin, or 
Avin ; rapidly, Ain, or Oin, is the term for a river. 
How it came to be so called we are not so sure, and 
we would despise ourselves were we to give for truth 
what to our mind appears doubtful ; perhaps the 
mode of drinking water from the palm of the hand 



* The most ancient name of Ireland \sInnis-Phd\l, i.e. the 
island JEph-el, expressive still of the solar worship : this is the 
generation of serpents which St Patrick banished. 



128 HISTORY OF THE 

gave rise to it, in which act a person, by drawing 
up, produces the sound av, and hence, perhaps, 
our old Celtic term for drink, abh, or ibh. " Gun 
ibh gun ith" — S. D. i.e. without drink or meat. 
The old Arabic is also av. Be this as it may, 
enough for our purpose to show that the term is 
Celtic ; and it is not against us to find in Marquis 
Spineto's alphabet, that the hieroglyphic for the 
power 2V, is a wave — thus, rw^n, which is, indeed, 
the parent of the character n, and thus the char- 
acter, as representative of the river-divinity, came 
to be a sacred or Cabaric one. The student will 
find more than a reference to this divinity in Nub'm, 
one of the names of the country whence the sacred 
Nile flows ; in Anubus, one of the names of the 
dog-star, supposed to influence the waters, and 
upon which Bryant remarks " This word Inopus is 
compounded of Ain 9 a river, and Opus, a serpent, 
i.e. Fons Pythonis ;" in the priest of ]N An, (not 
" On") the father-in-law of Joseph already noticed: 
in Avon, on which stands the town of Strat- 
ford ; the Avons and Evans of the Firth of Forth ; 
the Avon in Bretagne; the Irish Auns, as well 
as in the term Nile (An-El), &c. The idea 
is found in abhldiri, or aulm, i.e. condiment, any 
thing potable ; and in the verb Ibh, i.e. give me 
to drink. What if the leading idea of the term 
should rest in the Au-aw, the terrier, the barker, 
the symbol of the dog-star which indicated the 



CELTIC LANGUAGE, 129 

coming divinity ? The characters V and U we 
know are even to this day interchangeable, and Aub'm 
is the name of a water in Jersey. Auld also, is a 
well-known term for a river in Celtic : for instance, 
Auld-'Erin, the name of the Moray Frith ; Aider, 
the name of a village upon the river Parrot ; Aw, 
a river in Argyleshire falling into Bonaw (Aub-ain- 
aw ?) ; A win-Buy , i.e. the yellow river, in Ireland ; 
transposed and contracted Boyne. Awin-beag, or 
little river, another river of Ireland ; Awin-gorm, 
the Blue river ; Jfzm-garich, Niagara, — all which 
names, to a Celt, echo back the water-worship of 
antiquity ! The writer was not more pleased than 
surprised, when, after w r riting the above, he opened 
Bryant, and found in Vol. i. p. 62, the following 
apposite etymological remarks, viz., 

" Ain, An, En, On, for so it is at times expressed, signifies 
a fountain, and was prefixed to the names of many places 
which were situated near fountains, and were denominated from 
them. In Canaan (Can-Aun, or Dog river), near the fords of 
Jordan, were some celebrated waters, which, from their name, 
appear to have been of old sacred to the sun. The name of the 
place was Aenon (rather a*v&>v, Ain- On), or the fountain of the 
sun ; the same to which the people resorted to be baptized by 

John Many places were styled An-ait, An-Ab-Or, 

An-Opus, An-Orus. Some of these were so called from their 
situation ; others from the worship there established." 

Right good ! venerable sire : we have been once 
laughed at for asserting that O^asimus, a sophist 
of Athens ; Orcchestus, a town of Bceotia, Onches- 

f 2 



130 HISTORY OF THE 

tius, a surname of Neptune ; 0;zcus, son of Apollo ; 
Oraoba, a town near the column of Hercules, equi- 
valent to Ob-An in Argyleshire ; Orauba, a town of 
Spain ; and Orcuava, a divinity among the Gauls, 
equivalent to the celestial Venus (Ven-Esh), were 
all Celtic names! But, 

" Who will drag up to the poles, 
A fettered rank of leaden souls ?" 

The Gttozra, a branch of the St Lawrence 
is pronounced by the aborigines Au-Tau, and 
the mount which gives its name to Mon£rea/, be- 
speaks the Pagan Trinity, viz., T, R, L, i.e. Tau- 
Re-Al, the dog — tower — and lion; place we one 
sacred letter for another here, and we have T, 
B, R, i.e. Tobar ; in Celtic, a well, a font ! equi- 
valent to Tabor 9 Tiber ^ Tiberias ', Tobermory r , &c. 



" The path by which to Deity we climb, 
Is arduous, rough, ineffable, sublime ; 
Those men, theirs* who of Egyptian birth 
Drank the fair water of iVi/oric earth, 
Disclosed by actions infinite the road, 
And many paths to God Phoenicians show'd." 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 131 



CHAPTER V. 

" Ovx av tuvaip'/tv ffvf&fAa%s7v up,7v lya, 

ov§ 01 rpoTToi yo\g o/aovovo"' oud' 01 vofjcoi 

YjfAuv, o\<7r uXXvXcov £s o*ii%ou<riv <ffoXv, 

~Bouv ^T^oo'xvvsTs' lycb t\ 6vea ro7§ ho7$* 

trr,v zy%zXuv piiyto'Tov hyu ^aifAOva,, 

r,f4z7; ^5 rcov o^cov ftiyirrov vrct(w, <xoXv. 

ovx \ff6ius uuc&, lyu Vi y reopen 

yAXiffva. rovrot;' xvvoc ffiZu;, TV'ffrca I 1 zya, 

Tov\pov zarso'^iouo'ccv hvix ccv Xa.£a>. 

tou; hoicc; Ivtfccdz fjtXv oXoxXr^ov; vofjco$ 

uvcti* <7ra,£ b(juv £', u$ loixsv, atfYioypUovs' 

(TV p\v rov cuXougov xaxov 1%'ovr, vv 'fiys, 

xXatu$* \yu d'v^iffr a^oxriivecs Vi^u' 

^vvaroti vra,(? vfu* fLvyoiXn^ vrag 1/ao) Ti y ov." 

The following is a Translation. 

" *Tis plain that you and I can ne"er agree, 
So opposite are all our ways and rites. 
Before a bull, four-legged beast, ye bend, 
"With pious terror smitten : at the altar, 
I offer him a victim to the gods. 
You fancy in the little eel some power 
Of dsemon huge and terrible, within ; 
We stew it for our daintiest appetite. The flesh 
Of fatted swine you touch not : 'tis the best 
Of all our delicate meats. ' The yelping cur 
Is in your creed a god : I whip the rogue 
Whene'er I catch him stealing eggs or meat. 
Our priests are whole in skin from foot to head : 
Not so your circumcised and shaven seers. 
You cry and wail whene'er ye spy a cat 
Starving or sick : I count it not a sin 
To hang it up, and flay it for its skin. 
Ye say the paltry shrew-mouse is a god." 

Anaxand. in Civitat apud Athencei Deipnos, lib. vii. p. 299. 



132 HISTORY OF THE 



PAGAN DIVINITIES FURTHER EXAMINED ADAM GIVING 

NAMES TO FOWLS, WHICH NAMES ARE FOUND TO BE 
STILL DESCRIPTIVE, STILL AN ECHO OR REFLECTION 
OF THEIR NOTES SEVERALLY, AND STILL EXTANT IN 

THE LANGUAGE OF THE GAEL ADAM FINDING NO 

HELP-MATE, SINKS INTO A DEEP SLEEP. 

We have now shown cause why the Gael should 
love their language — why no earthly power can 
succeed in divorcing them from it ! The reason is 
it is & sacred language — the emanation of the gods, 
and inseparably incorporated with their history and 
their worship. Its appellatives, as descriptive and 
understood, regulate their gala-days, and these 
days, again, regulate their husbandry — when to 
plough, to sow, to plant, to set, to reap, &c, 
as handed down to them by their forefathers, of 
primeval antiquity, in simple poetry. In their 
very names for the days of the week they see the 
idols, or, at least, the symbolic gods of their 
ancestors.* The reader may follow out the sub- 



* Titonich, Sunday ; Ti-luan, Monday ; Ti-Mar, Tues- 
day ; Ti-Ci-At-An, Wednesday ; Ti-Es- Torn, Thursday; 
Ti-Iuno, Friday ; Ti-Es-Au-Ar-An, Saturday. At, Ti, or 
T, is the cross, the emblem of divinity ; in Celtic, therefore, 
God or Lord. It is found attached to all good gods : the 
Latins converted it to ie Dies" and the Saxons to " Day." 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 133 

ject ad infinitum ; what has been just submitted 
will lead him to a more adequate idea than, pro- 
bably, he had possessed formerly of such terms, as 
Theo^o^y, Cosmogony, Ophogony, Pythogony, 
'Nosogony, and so forth. To us they seem so 
many representations of Truth and Error con- 
founded — a crusade of superstition and bigotry, of 
which the motto of this chapter is not a bad picture. 
" I belong to the group, or Trinity represented by 
the T, the dog, and water-symbol ;" — "I belong 
to the group, the dog — the man — and the water- 
symbol ;" — " You are both astray," says a third, 
" the real Deity is found in the group, the Oph — 
the dog — and the circle," and so of all the hundred 
and one Es-Pe-Ts, or Septs which have made 
so many widows, — so many orphans, — which have 
deluged the world with blood, making rivers run 
purple. 

As Divinities, however, and the heroes of what this 
age terms the Classics, — although, it would appear, 
there is more true classical lore to be met with 
in Mull than in Greece — they, perhaps, merit some 
regard. Let us, therefore, briefly examine two or 
three of them. Aun- Ob, or Anubus, is an Egyptian 
deity represented under the form of a man with 
the head of a dog, because when Osiris went in his 
expedition against India, Anubus accompanied 
him, and clothed him in a sheep's skin. This deity 
ought properly to be called Cw-Esh, or Esh-Cu, 



134 HISTORY OF THE 

and means in allegory or fable, the sun making a 
journey to the winter solstice, and followed by the 
dog-star till it leaves him ; not in a sheep's skin but 
in a goat's skin, in the sign Capricorn. This was 
the season of lamentation in Egypt, when Tau 
was weak. Again, Ops was the daughter of 
Cceles and Terra, (Cou-El, and Tau-Tla?) who 
married Saturn, and became mother of Jupiter. 
She was generally represented as a matron, with 
her right hand opened as if offering assistance to 
the helpless, and holding a loaf in her left hand. 
What is this but the constellation, serpens-ophio, 
of which the serpent ouph, daughter of heaven and 
earth, was the representative, urging the water to 
its saving height — from 12 to 16 cubits — the sure 
pledge of a rich and abundant harvest ; perhaps of 
the fruits having been already realized? Once 
more. 

Mercury was the son of the Nile and the tutelar 
god of the Celts under the appellation, Merchants, 
Mariners, or Phoenicians. The term resolves itself 
into the Trinity Mer-cu-re, the leader of the 
aborigines of Europe. The whole, or nearly the 
whole, may, probably, be resolved into the twelve 
labours of Er-Cu-El-Es, Hercules or the Sun, 
through the twelve signs of the zodiac, undergoing 
a change of form, or, at least, of influence in every 
sign. The representatives of these Powers were, 
at first but few ; perhaps, tivo, Ar and Ab, or Ab 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 135 

and Ar, the serpent and Sun, emblematic of the 
masculine and feminine powers, or Fire and Earth. 
This view is supported by the following from 
Alexander Polyhistor, viz., 

6( At Babylon there was (in these times) a great resort of 
people of various nations, who inhabited Chaldea, and lived 
in a lawless manner like the beasts of the field. 

<c In the first year there appeared from that part of the Ery- 
thrsean sea, which borders upon Babylonia, a sacred? animal, 
by name Oannes, (Oin-Es) whose whole body (according to 
the account of Apollodorus) was that of a fish ; that under 
the fish's head he had another head, with feet also below, 
similar to those of a man, subjoined to the fish's tail. His 
voice, too, and language was articular and human. . . . There 
also appeared men, some of whom were furnished with two 
wings, others with, four, and with two faces. They had one 
body but two heads, the one that of a man, the other of a 
woman : and likewise in their several organs, both male and 

female (Vener) Other human figures were to be seen 

with the legs and horns of goats ; some had horses' feet ; while 
others united the hind quarters of a horse with the body of a 
man.f Bulls also were bred there with the heads of men ; 
and dogs with four-fold bodies, terminated in their extremities 

with the tails of fishes Of all which were preserved 

delineations in the temple of Belus (Aub-ElJ in Babylon." 

Is it to be wondered at that the several dele- 
gates differed about their gods ? At first but few 
in number, but, as knowledge increased, these 
two symbols were multiplied; and these again, 
in the march of knowledge, assumed in their multi- 

* Aprenon, sacred, because Cabalistic, 
f See our Globe. 



136 HISTORY OF THE 

plied state a multitude of subordinate animals and 
insects by way of attributes. The properties of 
these gods, again, being attributed to holy men 
and heroes, as Paul was baptized Mercury at 
Lystra, produced not a few of our patronymic 
appellations; for instance Ca/zeach, Kenneth, 
from Kan 9 an inflection of CS, a dog, equivalent 
to the " Kenites" of scripture, the Kenedy s of 
Scotland, otherwise Clann- Chu-Ar-ig ! Il-Le5n, 
expressive of the lion-god conjoined. Alpin, expres- 
sive of the Trinity formerly noticed Al-Ope-Ain. 
JSo'ich, expressive of the sun, the circle, or the 
round-tower worship ; and so of Patric, Pau/, 
Alester, Ferchar, Nial, Alen, Elasaid, Yionaid, 
&c, &c. The reader by this time, if he should 
happen to go to Abaxim, will be able to see the 
force of the mystic Talisman Abracadabra, used 
as a charm, thus : — 

ABRACADABRA 

ABRACADABR 

ABRACADAB 

ABRACADA 

ABRACAD 

ABRACA 

ABRAC 

ABRA 

ABR 

AB 

A* 

* See " Chambers 9 Edinburgh Journal" for December 
7, 1839. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 137 

The letters are Cabalistic and full of divinity, 
and the form emblematic of the sacred vase, with 
the sacred water. 

Let us now, in prosecution of our plan, attend 
to Adam giving names to fowls. 

Cere, a hen, Arabic Kerk? This name, it will 
be allowed, is not inexpressive of the ordinary note 
of the hen, accompanied by a jerk of the neck. Is 
the scoffer still inclined to sneer ? If so, we would 
respectfully remind him that our Saviour, who 
spoke as never mere man spoke, deemed it not 
beneath the majesty of his character to press the hen 
into his service, by way of illustration : "as a hen 
gathereth her chickens under her wings." A hen 
when hatching, it will be found, cannot utter the 
note cere, but gur, or goor ; and hence cerc-gur^ a 
hatching hen. This last note, misapplied, is the 
primary idea of the Persic Koorick, a hen, and of 
our own Celtic gur, a brood of chickens ; also the 
process of incubation : of ubh-guir, an egg which 
suffers from the process of incubation ; grwaban, a 
sitting or crouching posture ; gurdich, a person or 
animal so sitting. It is not a little remarkable, 
that although we call a brood by convention, gur> 
yet an individual chicken is big or bee, that being 
its own proper note. This, again, is another proof 
that language was from the beginning progressive, 
seeing that a chicken bespeaks the pre-existence of 
a hen by a considerable space of time. It is also 



138 HISTORY OF THE 

remarkable, that every bird, of whatever species, 
using this note, is called big or bicen : we say using 
this note, because the wren, although smaller than 
the majority of them, is not so called, but dream, 
from its peculiar vibrating note, dwelling upon the 
sound r — thus, drr : the land-rail, or corn-craig, 
has a similar note, but stronger and more aspirated, 
whence the difference in its name, Treun. This 
note of the chicken, or little bird, is the thing ren- 
dered in Isaiah x. 14, rather unhappily, " peep :" 
"my hand hath found, as a nest, the riches of the 
people : and as one that gathereth eggs that are 
left, have I gathered all the earth ; and there was 
none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, 
or peeped" How naturally does this beautiful 
figure sound in the natural language ! * Charobh 
aon a dh' f hosgail an gob no 'rinn biog" A bird 
smacking, so to speak, with its horny bill, produces 
the sound gob ; and the young ones when molested 
in a nest, send up a concert of "biog, biog" 
Peep, in the language of the Gael, is a term 
expressive of spitting off the tip of the tongue, like 
our old women or " Pitags," " Buitseachs," or 
" Taut-ags," in making a charm, the half of which 
process is taken up with spitting into a bottle, 
or upon a black thread, afterwards to be applied, 
and the other half, or thereby, in mumbling 
some inaudible — probably Cabalistic — words. To 
this antiquated method of chirurgery, the writer 






CELTIC LANGUAGE. 139 

was actually induced to have recourse for xSz-chadh, 
i.e. the fairy disease, called in English, a sprained 
ankle, when ten years of age. The old woman, 
Pitag, alternately peeped upon, and conversed 
with, a piece of black twist, which she now tied 
round the affected part by way of a sub-garter. 
.Whether Time or the " Snathain-sk-A?'c7i" should 
have the merit, the writer is not prepared to say ; 
but true it is, and of verity, that the ankle soon got 
well. The original sound and sense of the term is 
beautifully preserved in Isaiah viii. 19: "And 
when they shall say unto you seek unto them that 
have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that 
peep." The hen can utter several more notes, 
which may be termed occasional notes ; which 
notes, as w r ell as cere, form part of our lexicon ; 
we may instance gog, gogail, expressive of the 
" 9°g~9°9~i" speech made after laying her egg: 
Carson, expressive of the noise made in breathing 
with a diseased throat ; plehan, expressive of the 
wheezling, stifling, or asthmatic stage ; tuchan, 
expressive of the hoarse, half-audible note, as from 
the effects of cold. 

" How charming is divine philosophy." 

Coileach, or Gdlach, a chanticleer, a cock. The 
cock was never heard to utter the note cere, but 
when disturbed it utters " cal-al" or gal-el. 
Hence, perhaps, the Latin gallus, a cock, and 



140 HISTORY OF THE 

effeminized, gallina, a hen. At all events, herein 
is found the primary idea oigallan, i.e. a courageous 
person, more particularly coupled with the idea of 
protector of the fair sex. 

Inlaw, the eagle. No combination of letters 
can produce a truer reflection of the note of this 
noble bird than iul. He utters it in quick succes- 
sion, thus, " iul, iul" The eagle was a divinity in 
Egypt, and afterwards with those who spread from 
Egypt. We have all heard of the "bird of Jove." 
This term is a corruption of the Hebrew rnrp leu e, 
or Ieve, or Ie and Ie, our English word Jehovah.* 
It becomes us now to examine how the eagle came 
to be a god. The eagle, or hawk, was con- 
sidered a second Tau, barker, or messenger of the 
gods, and for the following reason, viz., The 
appearance of the dogstar, as already described, 
was accompanied by a strong, cold wind from the 
north, cabalistically called Te-Esh, or Etesian, 
perhaps, also, Aur-Oug-El, Euroclydon. The 



* The Highlanders in their invocation of the Deity say yie- 
yie. In Egypt when inhabited by the Aborigines, the wor- 
shippers of JEp/i t all their great Fels, or feasts were ushered 
in by an invocation of the Deity ; these invocations Pluche 
gives as follows, " Io Bseche, Hevoe Baeche, Io Triuraphe, 
Io Psen," and with the following comment, " This word Io 
Iov, Jevoe, levee, is the name of God, and signifies the 
author of life, He that is." If the reader can find no argu- 
ment still, he is unwilling to be convinced. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 141 

eagle, admonished by Nature of the approach of 

this periodical cold, and being now moulting 

season, was seen making towards the south, with 

expanded wings looking out for warmth. The 

reader will find the winged divinity in our globe. 

Here we are again borne out, not only by profane, 

but also by sacred history. " Does the hawk," 

says God to Job, " fly by thy wisdom, (shake her 

old feathers to g^t rid of them,) and stretch her 

wings towards the south ?" — Chap, xxxix. 26. 

Thus, then, it would appear, that the supposed 

foreknow/edge, or prescience, of this bird, made it 

a deity, as the casting of its feathers annually 

made it an apt emblem of youth and immortality. 

r ^ " God," says the Chaldean oracle of Zoroastes, " is he that 
has the head of a hawk. He is the first, indestructible, 
eternal, unbegotten, indivisible, dissimilar ; the dispenser of 
all good ; incorruptible ; the best of good ; the wisest of the 
wise ; the Father of equity and justice, self-taught, physical, 
and perfect, and wise, and the only inventor of the sacred 
philosophy" — Euseb. Prcep. Evan,, lib. i. c. 10. 

Here have we afair picture of the idea attached by 
our fathers to God through the symbol of a Hawk 
or an Eagle, which is, indeed, the testimonial of 
every other symbol as well of as this; a circumstance 
which ought to teach us a lesson of charity — ought 
to teach us to be less acrimonious in our judg- 
ment. That acceptable worship was offered through 
types and figures in all ages is undeniable, the 
difference being, not in the appointed use of them, 



142 HISTORY OF THE 

but in the abuse of them. This is now the god 
whom the euphonizing Greeks afterwards called 
Aeolus, i.e. the king of storms and winds, the 
inventor of sails, and a great Astronomer. Hence, 
likewise, the term Aeolia, seven islands between 
Sicily and Italy, said to be the retreat of the 
winds, and the kingdom of the god Aeolus, and of 
his worshippers, the Aeolians. We have it less 
corruptly in lul, a guide, a pilot ; lul-Erin, the 
guide to Ireland, the name of a fixed star ; cairt- 
iul, a sea-chart ; iol, or eol, knowledge, figuratively 
learning, science. The Latin aquila — whence the 
French aigle, and the English eagle, result from 
the root " iul." 

Ella, or Eallce, the Swan. Kindred to the 
eagle both by name and office is the beautiful swan. 
The name Ella is Cabalistic, being resolvable into 
El and La ; its natural name is Gog-gheadh, or the 
gog-goose ; and oftentimes has the writer's atten- 
tion been called upwards by the note " gog-gog," 
from hundreds of them soaring on " mutual wing," 
and seemingly exhausted, as well they might after 
a diamond-form flight from the kingdom of Lochlin 
to the Hebridean Isles of Caledonia. 

Its symbolical or sacred name, however, is the 
primary idea of Ellasaid, or, otherwise Helena, 
the most beautiful woman (goddess ?) of her age, 
sprung froman EG G. The Greek student can now 
account for Helia, one of the daughters of the Sun, 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 143 

and for JEgle, another of them; as also for Helenus, 
the celebrated soothsayer, Priest of the Swan* 
Ellen of Ar-Og- Ab seems now to turn out an allego- 
rical Queen, but, literally, a Swan-goddess, waging 
war with Tau-R6i. It may notbe improper to remark 
here, that a certain star (or stars) near the North 
pole, is called Helice, or the swan. The reader is 
not to understand that we father the Cabalistic 
names upon Adam. No, we thank him, in the first 
instance at least, for the natural names and for no 
more. 

Smeorach, the Thrush, the Mavis. This imita- 
tive name embraces in its radix two syllables, as 
will be admitted by any person who chooses to 
listen to the urlar, or ground-work of the sweet 
song by which this bird sings down a summer sun, 
when "rocks and woods have ears to rapture." 

Corbi, a Raven. On listening attentively to the 
note of this carnivorous and filthy bird, we are 
inclined to make c a prefix omissible, not a radical. 
We are borne out here by Genesis viii. 7 : " And 
he," namely Noah, " sent forth (ms orb,) a raven." 
Phitheach, or Fiach, its other name, is expressive 
of the peculiar sound produced by its wings, thus, 
phi-phi, its feathers being peculiarly placed. 

Griach, the Heron. What a true echo or imita- 
tion of the note of this long-necked, long-shanked 

* Vide, Dr Lempriere. 



144 HISTORY OF THE 

bird ! The letters are all radicals ; none of them 
may be spared. 

Gea\ a Goose. A name equally natural with 
the former. 

Cra-ghea', the shell duck ; from its well-known 
note era, era. 

Druid, the Starling, a true imitation of its note. 
It is, perhaps, superfluous to do any thing more 
now than barely submit the Celtic name to the 
reader ; if he but shape his organs and echo the 
bird, he will see that they stand in the same relation 
to each other as cause and effect. 

Rocais, a Rook, an imitative name, having its 
radix in roc. 

Pecag, a Peacock, from its note "peuc." 

Speireag, the Sparrow-hawk, from its note 
" sper-sper," and, by figure, a long heel, a spur. 

Trileachan, the Oyster-piper, or Sea-poet, be- 
cause, whether running on the sandy beach or 
flying, its note is " tri-tri." 

Gurgug, the Pigeon-dove. This is the species 
alluded to in the song, 

" Fhuair mi nead a Ghurgug, 
Ann an cul na co'la." 

i,e. I found the nest of the pigeon 
Behind the leaf of the door. 

The name of another species is 7owan, or Iunan, 
from its beseeching, pitiful note. This seems to 
have been the species sent forth by Noah with a 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 145 

view to ascertain the sate of things : " And he sent 
forth (rov lune) a dove," Genesis viii. 8. The dove 
was, among the ancients, the emblem of innocence, 
of virtue, and fecundity. Of innocence and virtue, 
probably, from the belief that it copulates by the 
ear, to which there would appear to be an allusion 
in the allegory of the goddess Juno having brought 
forth Vulcan without having any commerce with the 
other sex, but only by smelling a certain plant; and 
of fecundity, for the reason for which the rabbit came 
to be sacred. This Iun is the chief, the Hierarch of 
scripture: "and the sons of Javan, ("j^ Iun) Elishah, 
and Tarshish," &c, w r here, by making J of the 
yiud, a letter not in the whole Celtic Alphabet, 
and by inserting two vowels where there is none, 
they produced the unnatural appellation " Javan." 
The sons, Elishah and Tarshish, it would appear, 
have preferred for their emblems, the one the Ela, 
or Swan, and the other the Tau or Dog, to the Iun 
or dove of their father Iun. Ion, by figure, was 
the name of a general of the Athenian forces : 
nor did the name rest there. We have it to this 
day in the patronymic Maclon, a tribe of the 
McDonalds. The reader may not suppose that 
the people first known by these names were what 
he w r ould understand this day by Grecians. They 
were Celts, Copts, Arabians, Chaldeans, who 
then differed only in name and religious tenets. 
"Of those who settled in Hellas ," says Bryant, 

G 



146 HISTORY OF THE 

" I have spoken before and shown that they were 
no other than the shepherds of Egypt who came 
originally from Chaldea." 

By the natural laws of language, good and virtu- 
ous men came to be called Iuns, or Ions, whence 
Ionians. This is the leading idea in the name of 
the island Siuna in Argyleshire, as well as that of 
Iona, the blessed, the sacred island of the Druids, 
afterwards called I-Cholum-Chille, i.e. the island 
of Colum (or the Dove), patron of the Kills or 
Cells. The term Calum itself is another name for 
the dove in Celtic, but Cabalistically applied ; for 
instance, " Ach phill Calum le iteagaieh luath, 'Sa 
fhreagra na bhial." i.e. Calum returned with 
speedy wing, with his answ r er in his bill ; referring 
to the olive-leaf brought by Noah's dove. Thus 
we have accounted for " Columba, a dove," the 
symbol of Venus among the poets. 

Speaking of Venus, she is also a Celt by name. 
The root is in bhean, pronounced ven, a woman, 
in the vocative case; for example, Bean, a woman, 
a wife ; vocative, a 9 Bhean. " Goirear bean d'ith." 
i.e. She shall be called a woman. — Genesis ii. 23. 
" A Bhean leasaich an stop dhuinn." i.e. Hostess! 

replenish the stoup-measure -Pop. Song. 

The radix of the term is not in Nature. The 
text in the passage referred to, is " she" namely 
Eve, " shall be called ntr>S As-E" i.e. out of 
him. Bean is a Cabalistic name resolvable into 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 147 

Aub, contracted 'U, and Ain 9 river, contracted 
'N. This is a law acknowledged in the progress of 
language ; what was once strength and energy, is 
now softness and tenuity of sound : what was 
once distinct precision, accompanied with a corre- 
sponding action, is now half buried in indolent 
obscurity. Men, sensible that they make them- 
selves understood without effort, indulge in the 
easiest method of communicating their ideas ; 
and succeeding generations, trusting to the wisdom 
of their ancestors, take things as they find them. 
It was this effeminate slovenly manner of speech 
that divided the sound P down to B, T to D, S 
to Z, C to G, and F to V. But to return 
to Venus. As-E, we said, is the first appellation 
given woman ; now Ishe, in Celtic, is the personal 
pronoun she. " Ars' Ishe, Ars' Esh" i.e. says 
she, says lie. This, it will readily be allowed, is 
the Isis of Egypt. And who was Isis ? Why the 
figure of a woman, — in all probability a symbol, 
primarily of the moon, and secondarily of produc- 
tion. On comparing the different explanations 
given by Plutarch, Isis seems the passive power, 
who waxes and wanes, conceives and brings forth ; 
perhaps the Queen of heaven in conjunction with 
the King of day, and in a secondary sense sublu- 
nary Nature. 

The Egyptians, we are told, solemnized at the 
new moon of Phamenoth, i.e. March, the entrance 



148 HISTORY OF THE 

of Osiris into the moon, which planet he was 
believed to fecundate, that it might, in turn, fecun- 
date the earth. 

" In Egypt," says Abbe Pluche, if we well recollect, 
" where the inhabitants can with certainty judge of the pro- 
duct of the year by the state of the river, they proclaimed a 
plentiful crop by surrounding Isis with a multitude of breasts : 
on the contrary, when the presage of fertility was not favour- 
able, they exposed her with a single breast ; thereby to warn 
the people to make amends for the smallness of the harvest, 
by the culture of vegetables, or by some other industry." 

The term Bhean or Ven, is but another name 
for this symbol, as the following will show : — 

" Sometimes," says Pluche, "they put upon the Canopus 
the head of a dog, to signify the state of the river, or the 
time of the rising of the Dog-star. At another time they 
put thereon the head of a maid, to mark out the state of the 
Nile under the sign of the Virgin." 

Yes; and at the same time, perhaps, to symbolize 
the nuptials of the sun with the sign of the 
virgin, by which she was impregnated, and so of 
the moon from her monthly changes, her borrowed 
glory, and her putting on weeds of woe when her 
husband, the sun, leaves her wholly. 

From her connexion thus with water, it is that 
Venus is said to have risen from the sea — that she 
is made to preside over waters — to appease the 
troubled ocean, and so forth. We now understand 
how she was called Oivug, Omas, by the Greeks, 
which term is from the Celtic Oin> a river ; and 
by the Romans Venus Marina, from the Celtic 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 149 

Bhean-Mhara. Her worship gave rise to the 
appellative Venetii, a people of Gallia Celtieo ; to 
FenetiR, a part of Gaul, and to the proud city 
Venice ! 

Gulmag, the sea-lark, or rather the shore-lark. 
This is the Celtic name for the shore-bird that has 
no other note than the weeping, monotonous note 
" gul-gul" hence its name. 

Bib-en, the peesweep ; a name marvellously 
imitative of its note. 

Gorag, the carion-crow ; a true rehearsal. 

Cuag, the Cuckoo. This name is evidently 
contracted in the rapidity of speech. The Germans 
do the same when they call it gowk. 

This much, one would think, ought to serve by 
way of a specimen : and so far we appeal, unhesi- 
tatingly, to candour and common honesty, and ask 
— -Has our principle not borne us out ? How will 
it answer to exchange the names, and call the 
Griach Big, the Smeorach Treun, or the Gorag, 
Druid ? This would be equally repugnant to the 
nature of language and the language of Nature. 
God is not the God of confusion, but of order. 

i6 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the 

fowls of the air, and to every beast of the field, but 

for Adam there was not found an help meet for him!" 

No, worthy sire ! Thou to their voices and 

notes respondest, but amongst them all there is 

none to respond to thy own — none to return thy 



150 HISTORY OF THE 

smile, the emanation of reason — none to reflect or 
obey thy signs — none whose beaming humid eye 
sends an arrow to thy heart, causing a thrill unac- 
countable, inexpressible ; causing a feverish pulsa- 
tion, a suffusion of sight, accompanied by a glow 
upon the cheek from the maddening state of the 
current of life within — " commotion strange," which 
it will be thy happy lot, first of men, to experience 
at no great distance of time. That thou sinkest, 
meanwhile, into a " deep sleep" is not to be won- 
dered at. 



" How charming is divine Philosophy ! 
Not harsh and crabbed as dull fools suppose, 
But musical as is Apollo's lute, 
A perpetual feast of nectared sweets 
Where no crude surfeit reigns." 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 151 



CHAPTER VI. 

" Till Hymen brought his love-delighted hour, 
There dwelt no joy in Eden's rosy bower ! 
In vain the viewless seraph lingering there, 
At starry midnight charm'd the silent air ; 
In vain the wild-bird caroll'd on the steep, 
To hail the sun, slow wheeling from the deep j 
In vain, to soothe the solitary shade, 
Aerial notes in mingling measure play'd ; 
; The summer wind that shook the spangled tree, 

The whispering wave, the murmur of the bee ; — 
Still slowly pass'd the melancholy day, 
And still the stranger wist not where to stray. 
The world was sad ! — the garden was a wild ! 
And man, the hermit, sigh 'd— till woman smiled!"— Campbell. 

CREATION OF EVE ADAM AWAKES AND FINDS EVE 

THE FIRST NUPTIALS CELEBRATED AND SUNG 

COMMENCEMENT OF RECIPROCAL, LANGUAGE THIS 

LANGUAGE IN ITS ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES STILL 
EXTANT IN THE CELTIC ORIENTAL TERMS EX- 
PLAINED, &C. 

Let us now contemplate Adam as opening his 
eyes after having refreshed, for the first time, 
exhausted nature, and, according to our transla- 
tion, minus a rib. He soon discovers, not far 
distant, an animal far other than any of those he 
had erewhile surveyed and named : 

"A creature 

Manlike, but different sex so lovely fair, 

That what seem'd fair in all the world, seem'd now 

Mean ; or in her summ'd up, in her contain'd, 



152 HISTORY OF THE 

And in her looks, which from that time infused 
Sweetness to Adam's heart, unfelt before ; 
And into all things from her air inspired 
The sp'rit of love and amorous delight" 

" On she came 

Led by her heavenly Maker, though unseen, 
And guided by his voice, nor uninformed 
Of nuptial sanctity and marriage rites : 
Grace was in all her steps, Heaven in her eye, 
In every gesture dignity and love." 

How the first pair employed the first day it is not 
easy to determine ; we can easily fancy them going 
hand in hand through the policy- walks of Paradise 
— Adam communicating to Eve all his limited 
experience — 

" Confiding frank without control, 
Poured liberally from soul to soul." 

Now, perhaps, taking her to the river which he had 
yesterday attempted to walk at the risk of his life, 
and where he had seen his own manly form mirrored 
as in a glass ; and now teaching her the names of 
their well-conditioned stock of cattle and fowl seve- 
rally, which names these animals again confirm to 
an echo, to the no small delight of Eve ; they now 
peruse each other limb by limb, and perusing love, 
ay love, too, with a flame lighted at the altar of 
heaven. The go wan, the shamrock, and rose, 
probably, suffered willing martyrdom this day at 
the lily hand of Eve, as the orange, the apple, and 
the honey-comb at those of Adam. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 153 

Whether thus these things or whether not, of 
this we may be certain, that night came, when the 
sun wheeled down the western azure plain, leaving 
a myriad of twinkling substitutes to shed their 
stellar influence, and watch over Adam ; and when 
Adam, admonished by Nature, sought a bower for 
repose. Nor was Eve absent — 

" All heaven 

And happy constellations in that hour 
Shed their selectest influence, and each hill ; 
Joyous the birds ; fresh gales and gentle air 
Whisper'd it to the woods, and from their wings 
Flung rose, flung odours from the spicy shrub." 

Tis morn ! The lark is up mid-sky to sing up the 
king of day ! The bee whispers it to the unfolding 
rose, and zephyrs run to and fro, the grateful 
messengers of Aurora, loaded with fragrance ; the 
towering mountains now reflecting the horizontal sun- 
beam, make every dew-drop a sparkling diamond. 
x\dam awakes and awakes Eve ! and now, and from 
this hour, may we begin to date the elements of 
language more abstractly considered. We shall, 
therefore, endeavour to show that herein our prin- 
ciple will still hold good — that language is still in its 
elementary principles the gradual offspring of 
Nature, being based upon sounds produced by 
bodies in motion or collision, and in articulation , 
forming roots, spontaneously generated by action 

g 2 



154 HISTORY OF THE 

and passion. The greatest difficulty with which 
we have now to contend, is to distinguish between 
the Cabalistic and the Natural language. 

Sron, the nose. Here is a sound from bodies in 
collision : no reflection or echo can be truer than 
sron of the vibratory sound produced in blowing it, 
especially with the hand, which must, of necessity, 
have been the primitive mode, and still is among 
the unsophisticated. In this note we have, by 
figure, the ideal meaning of names of places jutting 
out in form of a nose ; Srontian, for instance. We 
say of a person in a huff or sullen fit, " Tha sron 
air," literally, he is nosed, because anger is indicated 
by the nose; whence, again, sroineasach, huffy, 
easily offended ; and sronaich, to smell close to the 
nose : the nose-string of a halter we call sronach, 
because coming over the nose. The terms nas, 
ness, nose, neeze, the reader will admit, are equally 
original with sron : the one is expressive of the 
noise made in blowing it ; the other, of snuffing it 
up, as in the act of taking snuff. It is a solecism 
to apply the term sneeze to sreohart, the sound 
produced after having taken snuff; sneeze applies 
to the act of taking it in, whence its Celtic name 
snaoisein, whereas our term for sneeze issreohart; 
a perfect echo. The English exactly substitutes 
herein the cause for the effect. The root is pre- 
served not amiss in 2 Kings iv. 35 : " And the 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 155 

child sneezed seven times," where the term for 
sneeze is -nYT zurr. It certainly wants the "eo" 
to make it a good echo. 

Isc, Esk, or Uisg, water. We leave it to the 
reader to determine whether the ideal meaning of 
this term be in the gushing noise of water, or 
whether w r e are to take it in a Cabalistical sense 
as a compound of Esh and CK, the man-dog of 
the Nile, which bringeth water, and, transitively, 
the Nile itself? At all events there can be no 
controversy about this being a Celtic term. For 
example : — 

" Uisg, or Uisge, water, aqua, sensu generali. 
Uisge- Coisrigidh, holy- water. 
Uisgich, to irrigate." — Diet, 

The term is related to the great fructifying 
principle Isis, the mother, the nourisher of our 
fathers in Egypt, as well as the Isis of Oxford in 
England, the Ise of Lower Saxony, the Esks of 
Scotland, the Usk of Wales, the Wiske of York- 
shire, the Aisch of Bavaria, the Esker of Turkey, 
the Oise of Holland and France, respectively ; the 
Awzen of Russia, and the Ousa (ou-esh, the 
barker ?) of Siberia, ; all rivers, flowing monuments 
of the antiquity of our language, and of the wide 
extent of its ancient dominions !* 

Lib or Lab, the heart ; either an imitation or 

* See " Chambers" Edinburgh Journal" No. 391. 



156 HISTORY OF THE 

rehearsal of its beat ; or, if the reader prefer it, 
Oracularly El-Ab, as being a heavenly monitor. 
We may easily imagine that the first pair were 
struck sufficiently early with the pulsation of the 
heart ; and wonderful indeed it must be to every 
person of reflection ; counting the passing moment 
as it does from the moment of our birth till the 
last throe of death breaks the golden cord, at the 
rate of about one hundred thousand times a-day ! 
Methuselah's pulse must have told upwards of 
42,442,200,000 during his life-time ! Here, then, 
we have the root of libiden, a man of little or no 
heart, judging from actions ; " duine libideack," 
a trifling, heartless man. We are corroborated 
here, at least, by Parkhurst, upon the root, " nb 
lb, the heart," says he, "from its vibratory motion, 
pulsation, or beating." We naturally attribute to 
this beating and sensitive monitor, thoughts, will, 
love, hatred, joy, grief, &c. We are apt to view 
it, in fact, as the light, the informer of the whole 
universe of man : hence we say, by figure, lib, or 
libh, bright, shining, white, clear; 

" I libh mar Eal'air a chuan." 
i.e. Fair as a swan upon the wave was she. 

" Claidheamh libhara do shenar." 
i.e. The shining blade of thy fathers. 

Again, Ubher, a book, because it informs : library, 
a collection of books : liberal, large-hearted ; and 
b and v being convertible letters, liv-ain, or leven, 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 157 

a clear river ; synonymous with Libanus of Leba- 
non. The Saxon leof, the English love, and life, 
are but a variety. The radix, in process of time, 
assumed a prefix or formative for ease to our organs 
in conversation ; hence cliabh, the chest, breast, as 
being the house of the heart ; by figure, a hamper, 
a creel, or any wicker-work, from a resemblance 
to the chest, having ribs : cliath, a harrow ; 
cliathach, the side, or cross timbers of a house or 
ship. And, following out the analogy, cliathranich, 
to be at cross purposes, a fight. 

Co-libeach, a fellow-heart, a heart-companion, a 
bed-fellow. This is the very root rendered "accord- 
ing to God's own heart." nbs clb, co-lib, where 
the idea is like-hearted ; a heart that beats the 
same time, and, consequently, producing a unison 
of effect. In listening to the heart's pulsation it is 
difficult to say whether to echo it lib or Ml, 
consequently, the heart is also called bn bl, in 
Daniel, which is still the same root transposed, 
and, hence, again, buile, a beat, a stroke ; buail, 
strike; buailteir, a thrasher; and, by an inter- 
change of letters as in the former shape of the root, 
the Latin volo, voluntus, the English voluntary ; 
and with the v converted into w, German willa, 
Saxon wile, icillen, Belgic willis, Islandic will, 
English wily, willing, &c. # 

* See Rev. Mr Pirie on iS Hebrew Roots." 



158 HISTORY OF THE 

We have another name for the heart but which, 
perhaps, was not imposed till after the introduction 
of sin, namely, cri. It is a root decidedly expres- 
sive of its tremulous, vibratory motion in fear or 
agitation, if indeed it be not oracular ? hence, crith, 
to shake, shudder, convulse; creid, to believe, 
the heart being the supposed seat of that power ; 
creidearn, I believe, let me believe : the first word 
in our religious confession, and hence called Creid, 
whence creideas, belief; creideamh, faith, and the 
English Creed. This is dissecting language ! 

Bra, a quern, a hand-mill, Adam's eldest son, 
we are informed, was a tiller of the ground : it is 
not improbable, therefore, but the rude quern may 
be contemporaneous with Cain, and who that ever 
saw it at work and heard its sound would mistake 
its name, especially if attended by a rotatory motion 
of the hand in imitation of a person in the act of 
grinding ? 

The quern was once the only mill for corn- 
grinding used in the Highlands of Scotland. The 
writer himself, to be candid, sat at it in his 
younger days. He saw the people of Saint Kilda 
at it, as their only mill, in June, 1838. It is 
still in use in many parts of Asia. It is composed 
of two stones, generally of granite : the under- 
most is about two feet in diameter, and the upper- 
most an inch or two smaller, and about four 
inches thick. Through the centre of this upper 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 159 

or revolving flag, there is bored a hole and 

divided by a double wooden cross, for the double 

purpose of dividing the grain in feeding the mill, 

and of receiving a wooden pin or peg from the 

nether millstone which preserves an exact equi- 

ponderance, and serves as a pivot. On the surface 

of the upper flag and near the edge, is an aperture 

just deep enough to hold the stick or handle, by 

which it is turned round : it is generally worked 

by two women, being considered an employment 

too feminine for males of age to engage in. They 

sit opposite each other, on the floor, in order to be 

level with the quern, both having hold of one and 

the same handle, and often changing hands, whilst 

one feeds it gradually through the centre-hole 

already described: the song being an essential 

accompaniment. The rotatory motion discharges 

the meal round and round upon a clean skin or 

linen sheet. When the stones get too smooth by 

friction, apickaxe, or piocaid, is employed to roughen 

the surface, leaving it like one very much marked 

with small-pock. It is remarkable that the name 

of the effect, as also the term for this operation, is 

breac, to speckle, to pit, to tartan ; the identical 

term for the small-pock, because producing the 

same effect ! Let us instance the proverb, — 

" 'S feird bra a breacadh, 
Gun a briseadh" 

i.e. a quern is the better of being pocked (pitted), 



160 HISTORY OF THE 

but not of being broken ; applied in the case of a 
fellow who requires to be rallied to duty, or who 
yields too smooth service for his hire. 

The Bra, or quern, was common among the 
Celtic nations from the earliest period of their 
history to this day. Like all their nationalities, they 
were tenacious of it ; so much so, that the law of 
Scotland had to unsheath its sword to put a stop 
to it — no doubt to favour some court mercenaries 
— so far back as the reign of Alexander III. In the 
year 1284, it was enacted: 

" That na man sail presume to grind quheit, maisloch, or 
rye, with hand-mylnes, except he be compelled by storm, and 
be in lack ofmylnes quhilk should grind the samen. And in 
this case if a man grinds at hand-mylnes, he shall give the 
threittein measure as multer ; and gif any man contraveins 
this our prohibition, he sail tyne his hand-mylnes per- 
petuallie." 

The refined modern will probably smile here ; 
but, perhaps, he may after all find in it the proto- 
type of our Saviour's figure of "two women 
grinding at a mill." Dr Clarke saw one worked 
in Nazareth, (An-Es-Ar-Et ?) the earliest resi- 
dence of Jesus Christ. 

" Two women," he observes, (( seated on the ground oppo- 
site each other, held between them two round flat stones, such 
as are seen in Lapland, and such as are in Scotland called 

querns In the centre of the upper stone was a cavity 

for pouring in the corn ; and by the side of this an upright 
wooden handle for moving the stone. As the operation began, 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 161 

one of the women, with her right hand, pushed this handle 
to the woman opposite, who, again, sent it to her companion, 
(neither losing hold of it) ; thus communicating a rotatory and 
very rapid motion to the upper stone ; their left hand being 
employed all the while in supplying fresh corn, as fast as the 
bran and flour fell from the sides of the machine." 



We are thus minute in our description of the 
Bra to gratify those who have never seen it. These 
will now in turn, we trust, for their own sake, be 
honest enough to confess, that one stone grinding 
another in the rotatory way described, will produce 
the root bra. This rotatory motion, it will be again 
admitted, is no inapt emblem of our globe, and as being 
never-ceasing, or endless — of eternity, or endless 
duration. Thus, then, w r e come atthe leading idea of 
N-Q bra, to create; the very letters used by Moses in 
the first verse of the Bible for the creation of the 
world ! The quern thus became the symbol of 
God, and of the sun, and is seen to this day in the 
circle with the eye in the centre in Egyptian hiero- 
glyphics. The Tautic symbol, or T, is surmounted 
by it upon that most curious stone at Largo, in 
Fifeshire, already noticed, and attended by the 
Eph or Phe. It may with propriety be also called 
Ro or Re, because round. On the reverse may 
be seen the principal gods of the Pagan world, 
from the caparisoned Apis (Aup-Esh), to the 
barking terrier ; descriptive, we have no doubt, of 
the course of ' S-Ol, or 'B-El, i.e. Sol or Baal, 



162 HISTORY OF THE 

through the twelve signs of the zodiac, and unques- 
tionably the Largo (El-Ar~Og), Lota, or stone-of 
power of the Druids. 

If this be true, we think we hear some say, we 
would expect some more Cabalistic, or religious 
names about the neighbourhood of this famous 
stone. That the remark is just we at once concede. 
And what is the result ? Why, the very name of 
the county, "Fife" is expressive of the Eph, or 
solar-serpent! as is " KilcoJiquhax" of the sepul- 
ture of the dog-worshippers : " Elie" of the swan- 
worship : " Cupar" (Cu-Op-Ar), of the dog, the 
serpent, and the sun, of which " H-Orestii," and 
" Peithii" or " Pehs," the names for the inhabi- 
tants, are but a variety. It is not a bad attempt 
that Mr Leighton makes at the etymology of the 
term Fife, when he says, — 

" Those who are aware that the P in the ancient Celtic 
changed in the oblique cases into Ph with the sound of F, 
will not doubt that greater changes in orthography have taken 
place than the softening of Peithi into Fife'* 

The reader will see no call for this accommoda- 
tion when he thinks, not of " Peten" but of 
" Eph" of which Fife is but a reduplication. 

The mind, at our comparatively mature stage of 
language, really requires to be frequently led back 
to the origin of it : but if we picture to ourselves, 
for instance, Pharaoh I. tattooed with, or otherwise 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 163 

owning for his insignia or sign of office, a serpent 
and a star ; and if we are acquainted with the 
Celtic or natural names of these two signs, we 
have no difficulty in naming him Eph-Ro ; rapidly, 
Pha-Ro : if, in place of the star or circle, a wave, 
Eph-Ain, rapidly, Pheni or Fenii : if, instead of 
the undulation, a human figure, Eph-Esh ; if the 
T or dog, in conjunction with the circle, Cou-Ro, 
the name of a Persian king. The appellations are 
oracular, transferred by analogy to mortal men as 
successors of gods. Bryant is wonderfully happy 
in his etymology of Pharaoh, when he derives it 
from "Phi and Ourah" The reader will do 
well to bear in mind that a hieroglyphic character, 
and its offspring, a consonant, takes any one of 
the vowel powers either before or after. 

These official signs Joseph, it would appear, was 
made to assume when exalted by Pharaoh. " Wot 
ye not," says he, "that such a man as I can certainly 
divine?" where Joseph's words are wvfr W7T\3 
nchsh inchshy or, the serpent twice told ; in a con- 
secutive sense, a Prophet. This train of reasoning 
some readers may require to bring them to see the 
insignia, whether on the cup or on the person of 
the hierophant or high-priest of Fife :* it is the 
way to come at the primitive idea of a hundred and 



* Every person knows that our ancestors were tattooed : if 
they want proof read " Ccesar" 



164 HISTORY OF THE 

one terms which seem nonsense to the uninitiated 
in Celtic lore; for instance, Albert (Al-Ab-Er-Te), 
implying four oracular emblems ; (God grant the 
prince of that name about to be joined to a queen 
of equally Cabalistic name, may prove a sound 
oracle to the British nation!) Can-can, implying 
one emblem reduplicated; and so of Cimmerii, 
Cumero, Cynetce, Ingcevones, Auralia, Arab, Alab, 
Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, and many more ; 
some of whom have been already submitted. But 
to return. 

From this note of the quern then, as we have said, 
its name bra, whence, again, by metaphor, gu bra, 
for ever, without end ; la bhra, the judgment-day, 
the last day; by corruption — perhaps Cabalistically 
— Brehon, or Brahon, a judge — hence, again, 
Baron, a judge; Barantas, security, guarantee : 
and Britun a religious appellative applicable to a 
certain body of Druids who gave judgments in high 
places by causing a stone to go round with the 
sun, as also to pass through two fires. It is the 
word used by Jeremiah (Chap, xxxiv, 18), " They 
who have not performed (Dabiri Britli) the words 
of the covenant ;" strictly, the words of the Judge, 
or Judgment. Again, braist, a broach, because 
round like a quern ; brd-at, the thorax, because the 
place of the broach, and, by remote analogy, the 
part of a boat corresponding to the thorax in man ; 
ramh-&ra-at, the bow oar; 6mthad, the collar of a 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 165 

horse or ox in ploughing, because made fast at the 
thorax ; Z>madair, a smart fire in the centre of the 
floor, because placed upon an old quern-stone, as 
we have ourselves seen, to prevent the damp 
putting out the fire ; Jratach, a standard of a 
peculiar formation, probably an emblem of the 
quern as symbolical of the sun or of God. This 
was, probably, the sort of standard which Fingal 
had, and called Deu-Greine, i.e. the Sun-god; 
the Greneus of the Greeks. Thus we see that the 
language first spoken, not only by animals, but by 
the very stones, became by degrees common and 
intelligible. 

H The convenience of that language/' says Fellows, speaking 
of Hieroglyphical writing, u which rendered itself intelligible 
to the eyes, and in some sense made animals, and even stones 
themselves to speak, by degrees became more common. It 
was extended to every thing." 

Again. 

Gao\ the wind. The power of the diphthong 
#o, in Celtic, is very remarkable. It is exactly 
the sound of the wind itself, of which it is expres- 
sive, and hence found in every term expressive of 
buoyancy, as in the following instances : ^aohail, 
windy ; cotram, light, airy ; aotraman, a bladder 
blown with air ; gaothair, the mouth-piece of a bag- 
pipe by which the bag is inflated ; sgao', a covey of 
birds rising all at once because producing this sound. 
" Sgao Dhruideachan" i.e. a covey of starlings ; 



166 HISTORY OF THE 

gaotharan, a giddy inconstant person ; gaothar, 
a greyhound, from its swiftness ; aodain, shallow, 
not deep; caoin, collapsed, withered like grass 
in the sun, &c. Of the phenomena which com- 
manded the especial attention of Adam, a stranger, 
and in a strange world, the wind may well be 
supposed to have been not of the last. It is, 
perhaps, not too much to imagine, indeed, that the 
influence of this invisible agent upon the trees of 
Paradise, attracted his attention the very first day 
of his existence. But how surprised he must have 
appeared at the first tornado — the first thunder- 
storm, which walked demon-like, rooting up his 
favourite trees — scathing his favourite flowers — 
hurling bolts of fire at life and property ! This 
leads us to the next root, namely, 

Tarn> or Tairnean, thunder. In pronouncing 
it you dwell upon the letter r, making the tongue 
vibrate against the upper gum, upon the principle 
of onomatopoeia. 

Thunder utters its awful voice in different tones, 
according to the locality, whether rocky or level ; 
and according to the distance it has to travel to 
our organs of hearing. Even this distinction is 
made by the Celtic, and is the cause of our different 
terms for thunder : for example, tarunn^ when 
short and abrupt ; tairnean, when loud and long : 
and torman, when distant and muttering. Here 
have we now the leading idea and root of the god 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 167 

Tor or Thor. The Hebrew lexicons come very- 
near the sense when they define him " The heavens 
in circulation." We would prefer, the heavens in 
agitation or vibration. " Thor," says Adam Bre- 
mensis* "presides in the air, causeth thunders, 
winds, showers, fair weather, &c." Thus, also, 
. Ericus Olans, in his " History of Sweden'' 

" They invoke Thor for rain and wholesome breezes, as 
presiding on high ; also they hoped to be preserved from 
hurtful blasts, from thunder and hail, to whom, on the fifth 
day of every week, they offered sacrifice, whence that day 
was called Thorsday" 

It was a vulgar notion of the Canadians to 
suppose, that when it thundered the devil was 
endeavouring to vomit a horrible serpent, and by 
straining to evacuate the same, rent the clouds and 
caused thunder .| Hence Bremenses? 

The image through which the Celts worshipped 
or implored Torr, was the bull, whence the Celtic 
Tar-aph, a bull, contracted tarbh, or tarv ; Phoe- 
nician Tor; Chaldaic Tor et Taur ; Hebrew 
Thora et Tor; Arabic Taur et Tauro; Runic 
Tarffur ; Greek Tauros ; Latin Taurus; Spanish 
and Manx Tarv ; Italian Toro ; Armoric Taru ; 
Cornish Tarv; Irish Tarbh, a bull! Hence, again, 
by analogy, foradh, fruit, production, the gifts of 

* The priest of Thunder, ox flatus of the gods ? 
f See Ogilby, p. 132. 



168 HISTORY OF THE 

Tor> the president of the air ; forraeh, pregnant, 
promising fruit; tar&hach, profitable, yielding 
increase ; tairbhe, profit, gain, &c. It is difficult 
to separate this term from the Cabala. The 
priests of Tor were naturally termed Tordan, 
i.e. the men of Tor ; whence tartan, because these 
wore by way of distinction that chequered stuff. 
The Druids allowed the king, we are told, to wear 
seven colours in his breacan or dress, whilst they 
themselves were satisfied with six. Persons of the 
highest quality, other than the king, were not 
allowed to wear more than four colours. To us it 
appears not improbable, that not only the most 
sacred portion of our language, but also a great 
part of our progress in the arts, may be traced to 
Nature. Nothing was more natural for a people 
who worshipped the Solar-gods to the tattooing of 
their symbols into their flesh, than when they 
began to clothe themselves and to cover these 
figures, to desire to have still a substitute on their 
habiliment : — thus the heavens would furnish a 
pattern for a carpet, or a mosaic pavement of stars ; 
and the beautiful variety of the Serpent-god a more 
regular web. But, what are we arguing about ! 
The thing is beyond a doubt. Witness the Carib- 
bean song, preserved by Montaigne : — 

" Oh snake, stay ; stay, oh snake, that my sister may draw 
from the pattern of thy painted skin, the fashion and work 
of a rich ribbon, which I mean to present to my mistress : 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 169 

so may thy beauty and thy disposition be preferred to all 
other serpents. Oh snake, stay/' &c.* 

Let, us now come, although, perhaps, prema- 
turely, to an era in the history of Adam of no small 
importance ; and, therefore, not likely to be passed 
over without a significant term to commemorate it : 
we allude to the accouchment of Eve. The first 
and proper name of our great mother was ntttS 
Ashe, or As-E, or A-Esh. Now as, in Celtic, is 
out of, or from, and E the personal pronoun he, 
man. We have already shown that Adam's own 
first and proper name is E or Aish, i.e. he. 
Eve's first and proper name, therefore, is out 
of, or, from man, often abbreviated Ise, i.e. she. 
Eve, however, it would appear, no sooner became 
a mother than Adam called her r\MT\ Chice, or Hue, 
not Eve, as we have the characters, most unpar- 
donably, rendered in English. She obtained this 
new name "because she was the mother of all 
living." So says Truth, and where is the ideal 
meaning of the term ? Words are not arbitrary, 
unmeaning sounds ; there is not a single vocable in 
any language without a reason for it. Setting, 
therefore, ascetic finicalness aside, the ideal mean- 
ing of the name H-ue is in the child-bearing pains 
of Eve, and, in a secondary sense, very properly 
expressive of a mother. Part of the sentence pro- 

* Riton's Essay on National Songs. 
H 



170 HISTORY OF THE 

nounced by the All-righteous Judge had been, " In 
sorrow thou shalt bring forth children ;" and we 
may easily suppose that He would show Eve, in 
the very first instance, that He was just as well as 
merciful. It is remarkable that the Hindustane 
for a lying-in woman is Iucha, or Iacha; and Io 9 e, 
the term for a wife ! The term which Eve em- 
ploys on the birth of Cain is variously understood : 
"I have gotten a man from the Lord:" some 
render it, " I have acquired a man, the Jehovah;" 
others, " I have obtained a man-child through the 
aid of Jehovah :" others, and they are supported by 
the versions, consider T or riw At, as equivalent 
to ^ jB, and render accordingly.* This, with 
deference, is a war about words ; our reader shall 
have learned by this time that J5, or Aub, is equi- 
valent to T or At, and that both terms are expres- 
sive of the true God. Perhaps Eve thought that 
she had already gotten the promised seed who 
should bruise the serpent's head. Having premised 
these facts, we would now, byway of exercise, leave 
it with the reader to account for the Celtic root iu, 
or io. It is to be found in zodh, a sudden pain, a cramp ; 
mdha, or iodha, a child-bearing pain, pronounced in 
the throat, and with a downward pressure. It is 
the root employed by the author of 1 Samuel iv. 
19, in reference to Phinehas' wife: " She bowed 

* See " Boothroyds Hebrew Bible" — Note. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 171 

herself and travailed, for her pains (her "^ iyX) came 
upon her." So Parkhurst upon the root "V 1 iul, 
the cry or shriek of a woman in labour." It is 
found in bean-shmbhla, a woman in child-bed; 
leab-shmbhla, child-bed ; gmlan, a boy, a child ; 
iud&g pudenda (Hebrew ^n* 1 mdo, to know carnally, 
Genesis iv. 1); mrsach, a strumpet ; mchair, the 
roe or spawn of fish or fowl; iidy, July, the 
travailing or spawning season of Nature ; iwno, 
the patroness of women in labour, called by the 
Romans Tuna Lucina, or Diana Lucina, to whom 
the first of the Orphic Hymns is addressed, of 
which the following is a translation, viz., 

" Hear me, O venerable goddess, demon with many names, 
and in travail, sweet hope of child-bed women, saviour of 
females, kind friend to infants, speedy deliverer, propitious to 

the youthful nymphs Thou sympathizest with throes, 

but rejoicest in easy labours Zw/ithia, in dire extremities 
putting an end to pangs ; thee alone parturient women 
invoke, rest of their souls, for in thy power are those throes 
that end their anguish." 

We speak as to wise men, judge ye what we say. 
We cannot imagine truly, as we have already 
remarked, that entire simplicity — that total absence 
of cunning — that naturalness which may adequately 
express the extreme candour of the mind of the 
first man, even at the stage of Cain's birth. We 
have now no difficulty in seeing the leading idea 
in the name Iuno. We have already shown that 



172 HISTORY OP THE 

this is the deity which gave rise to the Celtic term 
for Friday, namely T-Iuno. 

The same natural radix, it will not be disputed, 
is the primary idea of .Mia, daughter of Julius 
Caesar, who died suddenly in childbed ; of Julia, 
the only daughter of the emperor Augustus, 
remarkable for her beauty, genius, and debauch- 
eries; also, a daughter of the emperor Titus, 
who prostituted herself to her brother Domitian ; 
of " Y&nones," a name of the protecting genii 
of women.* " Yoni," the female Nature, says 
Wilford, " is also derived from the same root yu, 
to mix." lugh, day, the season of toil or frugation ; 
iul&n, a stackyard, because the repository of the fruit 
of labour ; siubhsl, to die, to depart, Chaldee bvtP 
shiul, rendered sometimes hell and sometimes the 
grave. The idea is to depart or die, which implies 
a struggle. Jacob uses this root in reference to his 
son whom he thought had been devoured by wild 
beasts ; his faith would not certainly permit him to 
believe he had gone to hell, but merely that he had 
departed, whither the aged sire expected to follow 
him. Kindred to this root is Cue, or Cumha, to 
grieve, to lament, to mourn ; whence, by analogy, 
Cu'achag, the owl. You may take either, and you 
have the primary idea of the appellation Eve ; and, 
as a three-fold cord is not easily broken, take also a 

* Lempriere. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 173 

collateral one. J&thar, or zwbhar, the yew tree, 
a bow; mthar-beine, the juniper tree. "Mar 
shaighead o ghlacibh an mthair," i.e. as an arrow 
from the curve of the bow. This is the word used 
by Jeremiah, n/T ^thr, and rendered cords ; the 
Seventy challenge the translation and render it 
quiver. They are both correct in a secondary 
sense, but the primary idea is the bow : and how ? 
Why, in bending the bow, always, of old, made 
of the yew or juniper tree, the sound h-iu, is 
naturally produced, or at least supposed to be 
produced. The one end is placed on the ground 
supported by the foot, while it requires one's 
whole might, and, not unfrequently, more than he 
possesses, to bring the other end to meet the 
string. We can easily imagine that the suitors of 
Penelope uttered many a h-iu in their vain endea- 
vours to bend the bow of Ulysses. 

The reader will forgive a short description. To 
a mountain Celt like us it is superfluous. It has 
been our favourite sport in days never more to 
return. 

" Then with a manly pace he took his stand, 
And grasp'd the bow, and twang'd it in his hand ; 
Three times with heating heart he made essay, 
Three times unequal to the task gave way. " 

And, again : 

" One hand aloft displayed 

The bending horn, and one the string essayed, 

From his essaying hand the string let fly, 

Twang'd short and sharp like the shrill swallow's cry." 



174 HISTORY OF THE 

The root seems primarily to bespeak labour, 
pain, and, as a consequence, grief, sorrow, wailing, 
or any situation implying such. 

Iu'r is but one of the Celtic names for the bow : 
we understand it equally well by the term boa, or 
bogha ; and how so ? Why, because when the 
string is pulled with power, and the arrow let off, 
you hear at one and the same time, boa, from the 
bow; sraing from the string; and sai from the 
arrow ; hence their names, bogha, sraing, sai'ead : 
and, again, in a figurative sense, bogha, any thing 
arched ; bogha-drochaid, the arch of a bridge ; 
bogha-frois, the rainbow, &c. Saighead, an 
arrow; figuratively, a stroke or a dart from love, 
or from grief. The term iSbilee presents a similar 
root; but the primary idea is very different, which 
shows the importance of making a difference in 
kindred roots. Iubl here is expressive of the sound 
produced by a Corn, or horn (called krn-mbl), with 
apparently not more than one hole to finger. This 
horn was to be sounded every fiftieth year, to pro- 
claim freedom to every captive ; whence, by figure, 
iwbilee, freedom, public festivity, a period of fifty 
years ! So Parkhurst upon the root "b^ ##>1, the 
blast of a trumpet ; i.e. the air carried along it in 
sound." Sius&vc, the chanter of a bagpipe comes 
from the same radix. 

The doctrine of " Ag, Bag, Dag," has certainly 
no exclusive property in this language. If it have 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 1/5 

in any other languages, we have no objection ; let 
the advocates of such languages rear monuments 
to the learned Professor who convinced them ; our 
conviction is future. 



<e The waies through which my weary steps I guide, 

In this researche of old antiquitie, 
Are so exceeding riche, and long, and wyde, 

And sprinkled with such sweet varietie, 
Of all that pleasant is to eare and eye, 

That I, nigh ravisht with rare thought's delight, 
My tedious travel quite forgot thereby ; 

And when I 'gin to feel decay of might, 
It strength to me supplies and cheers my dulled spright." 



] 76 HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER VII. 

" Slave to no sect, we take no private road, 
But look thro' Nature up to Nature's God ; 
Pursue that chain which links th' immense design, 
Joins heaven and earth, and mortal and divine," 

THE POWER AND IMPORT OF LETTERS INDIVIDUALLY 

CONSIDERED, WITH AMPLE EXEMPLIFICATIONS 

SHOWING EACH OF THEM TO BE A NATURAL ROOT, 
OR RADIX, AND THE PARENT OF A NUMEROUS OFF- 
SPRING HEBREW ROOTS CONSIDERED, &C. 

The plan hitherto pursued by us, to bring home 
conviction upon this great argument, may be 
objected to as being too general and diffuse, upon 
a question so momentous and minute — too much 
scudding before the wind in a frail bark. 

Yielding to this argument, and willing to test 
our bark to the utmost, we shall now haul in every 
sheet, and make her cleave wind and wave in the 
very teeth. 

The reader, we trust, will not forget that 

61 The first principles of a language, 1 ' as a great philologist 
says, " are to be examined in its most natural, and, of course 
its most simple terms ; terms, the root or primary idea of 
which is not unfrequently expressed by one single vowel, or 
sound, the other letters of the root, if any there be, being 
serviles ; that is, subservient to the vocal organs in conversa- 
tion." 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 177 

This is the only true path to etymology ; the 
vulgar path is to seek a radix in every syllable, 
turning to account serviles, terminations, affixes, 
and postfixes. The Celtic naturally puts the accent 
always upon the root-syllable. 

Of the Power or Character A. 

The first sound or sign of the Celtic alphabet is 
A, and, with reason; for it must have been the first 
sound ever uttered by man, and, we are almost 
tempted to say, still continues to be so. In pro- 
nouncing it you require only to open your mouth 
and breathe firmly, and audibly, from the throat. 
It is a sound most natural in assenting or approving; 
so much so that the very deaf and dumb employ it, 
accompanied by a nod of the head in this sense : 
hence, Celtic, a, aspirated k-a, corruptly tha, yes, 
it is, it is so, am, art, is, are, &c. We said that to 
pronounce a it is required only to breathe ; and, 
hence it becomes the root of mle, the fluid air ; 
aile, smell, odour ; anail, breath ; analaich, to 
expire, inspire, inflate^ take rest ; anam, life, soul. 
Numerically, a stands for one, first, foremost. 
The sound a, roared with the highest pitch of the 
voice, is a natural interjection or exclamation when 
we want to awe or frighten, or in giving vent to 
our fears when running away from horror ; as also 
in narrating amazing, or marvellous events, great 
h 2 



178 HISTORY OF THE 

height, &c, hence it requires to be pronounced 
very long in ard, high, noble ; gau, or gdbhadh, 
jeopardy, peril ; " duine gavi," a boisterous savage 
man; gdir, bdir, are terms applied to any open 
sound, especially to the open roar of the sea, of 
cascades, of a battle shout, &c. ; e.g. "t/airieh, or 
fiairich a chuain," the roaring of the sea; Gdiri, 
the name of a river which gives its appellation to 
Glengary, also a noisy rapid river in Perthshire, 
and Niagara, in America — resolvable into Ain, a 
river, na, an article, and gdrich, expressive of the 
open roar of the water. Its religious name is Ain- 
Tau ; whence, with the addition of Tor, a fort, or 
observatory, Tor-In- To, in its immediate neighbour- 
hood : Ezekiel, in xlvii. 5, employs the root most 
happily. The man first measured a thousand 
cubits, the waters were to the ankles : he measured 
another thousand, they were to the knees : a third 
thousand, they were to the loins : he measured 
again, they were (*iss gov) terrible, perilous, i.e. 
they could not be passed over. The hieroglyphic 
for a is the hawk — because the god of wind, of 
breath, of life, 

Of the Character B. 

The next most natural sound after a is b, or m. 
These are produced by simply closing the lips, 
which had formerly been open : hence happens it 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 179 

that the terms iftW amr, to say, and our abir, to 
say, to employ the lips, are indiscriminately used. 
This is the leading idea in the following vocables : 
ab, the mouth ; with a formative c, cab, the mouth ; 
caJach, gabby, garrulous : ca&ag, a prating, pert 
woman ; aJairt, a word, a voice, a speech ; a&erden, 
a spokesman, also a vocabulary; " Abair gu beag 
's abair gu math" i.e. say little and say well. 
" Abair Mac-an-Aba gun do chab a dhiinadh" i.e. 
say MacNafi, without closing thy gab. This is 
the Hebrew im dbr, or dtf&ir, properly rendered 
language, speech, words — not the thing confounded 
at Babel, which was shpt. We have now the 
leading idea of -) s m dbir, the oracle; literally the 
speaking-place, the part of the temple from whence 
God spoke: hence the term tabernacle. Again, 
poetically, nm dbr, rendered thunder, the voice or 
speech of Jehovah. "He sendeth out his (dbr) 
tvord and melteth them," Psalm xlvii. 18. " Before 
him went the dbr" rendered the pestilence ; quite 
correct, inasmuch as thunder was esteemed a 
plague ; but that the primary idea is the thunder, 
the sequel shows, viz., "and burning coals went 
forth at his feet," Hab. iii. 5. Abi, or abich, ripe, 
ready for the mouth. So in Canticles vi. 7, " To 
see whether the vine flourished '" where the original 
is ^N abi, ripe ; hence the month Ab\h, and our 
April, or AbvW. It was called " Ab aperiendo ter- 
rium" by the Romans. April was the month when 



180 HISTORY OF THE 

barley was ripe in the East. " And the flax and 
the barley were smitten, for the barley was (^N 
abi) ripe," rendered " in the ear," Exodus ix. 31. 
When crops are ripe the smallest agitation will 
shake off the grain : the barley, therefore, being in 
this instance ripe, could but ill stand the pestilence, 
the " mighty thunder and hail." 

From this root ab, comes, by analogy, our nume- 
rous Abers ; the idea is a mouth of the land, an 
inlet, or outlet, such as ^4&er-avon, near Aber- 
deen ; ^fter-feldy, &c. It is difficult, however, 
to separate this idea from the ab or aub, the 
inflater, the priest of the inflater, and perhaps the 
water-worship. It is not a little remarkable that 
one of the hieroglyphics for b is a vessel with a 
spirtle standing in it, in sign of food, which keeps 
alive ; or of the water of the Nile, which was life 
itself ! This aided in making b one of the Cabala, 
or sacred characters. 

Another kindred root is be, pronounced beh, life, 
being, existence. " Tha beh ann," he is alive ; the 
idea is, he is just able to move his lips and that is 
all ; foathach, a being, a living thing ; feathaich, 
feed, keep alive ; £eothail, lively, airy ; foothaich, 
to kindle, bring alive; foothachan, a kindling, 
ignator, a gentle breeze rising out of a calm; 
feoshlaint, livelihood, life-rent; foulach, gabby, 
talkative, prating; foulabh, the front, the mouth- 
side ; " beul an la" Le. the mouth, front, or dawn 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 181 

of day ; hence, perhaps, Bel, the sun, because the 
introducer of day, the quickener: rather Ab-El ? 
Bel was the great deity of the Celts, and it is 
remarkable that Herodotus (lib. i. cap. 181,) calls 
the tower of Babel Aiog JSuaok 7eov, i.e. the temple 
of Bel, the sun, precisely our own term "Deis 
Bhaol," i.e. to go round with the sun ; a charm- 
phrase. That the builders of Babel fell out about 
their symbolic gods, we have, in our opinion, 
internal evidence. Names, in ancient times, were 
descriptive. Nimrod's father's name was Cush, 
which is resolvable into Cu, a dog, and Esh, a 
man, the man-dog : his own name is written by 
some, Nebrod, an oracular name. In the theo- 
logy of the Phoenicians and Chaldeans, according 
to Sanchoniatho, a writer senior to any Greek 
author, we have it as the cause of the confusion, a 
war having risen between Cronus and Titan. Now 
Cronus, is the moon, or priest of that luminary ; 
and Titan is the " Barker" or " Tau-hut," or the 
planet, or planet-priest, The auxiliaries of Ilus, 
who is the same with Cronus, were called Elocim. 
Titanides were the offspring of Cronus by Rhea, 
i.e. of the sun-symbol, by the moon or planet-symbol. 
Auranus, again, was the father of Cronus. Ogyges 
was a king of the Titans. The first kings were 
Chaldeans, and their first king was Evechius (root 
Eph?), who is known to us by the name of Nebrod 
(Ain Ob?) What are we to make of all this 



i 



182 HISTORY OF THE 

confused allegory ? The truth seems to be, that 
previously to the erection of the tower, men 
appear to have apostatized from the patriarchal 
.worship. About this time a further deviation from 
the truth appears to have taken place ; and, upon 
the first and more simple corruption, men engrafted 
a more elaborate and more gross system. Of this 
hypothesis, the following from Epiphanius is sin- 
gularly corroborative, viz., 

" The parents of all the heresies, and the prototypes from 
which they derive their names, and from which all other 
heresies originated, are those four primary ones. The first is 
Barbarism, (Ab-Aurism?) which prevailed, without a rival, 
from the days of Adam, through ten generations, to the time 

of Noah The second is Scuthism, (Esh- Cuism ?) 

which prevailed from the days of Noah, and thence down- 
wards to the building of the Tower of Babylon, and for 
a few years subsequent to that time, that is, the days of 
Phalec and Rogua. (Eph-El, and Ro-Og ?) But the nations 
which incline upon the borders of Europe, continued addicted 
to the Scythic heresy, and the customs of the Scythians, to 
the age of Thera ; and afterwards, of this sect also were 
the Thracians. (Tau- Aur-Esh ?) The third is Helenism, 
(Ele-ism, or Swanism?) which originated 1 * in the days of 
Seruch, with the introduction of idolatry The fol- 
lowers of this began with the use of painting, making like- 
nesses of those whom they formerly honoured, either kings or 
chiefs The Egyptians, and Babylonians, and Phry- 
gians, and Phoenicians, were the first propagators of this 
superstition of making images, and of the mysteries, from 
whom it was transferred to the Greeks, from the time of 
Cecrops downwards. The fourth was the worship of Cronus, 
Rhea, Zeus, and Apollo." 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 183 

Who, does the reader ask, are these last four? 
Why, we would submit that they are virtually one. 
Com is the Celtic for a horn: Cronus, therefore, 
or Comics, applies probably to the moon. Rhea 
means any round object whatsoever, and, there- 
fore, may apply to the sun or to the dog-star. 
Zeus is a corruption of Te, or Tau with a Roman 
termination. The following character, from the 
" Orphic Fragments" applies equally to all of 
them, as we have remarked under the eagle, viz.: 

" Zeus is the first. Zeus the thunderer is the last. 

Zeus is the head. Zeus is the middle, and by Zeus all things 
were fabricated. 

Zeus is male, Immortal Zeus is female. 

Zeus is the foundation of the earth and of the starry heaven. 

Zeus is the breath of all things. Zeus is the rushing of inde- 
fatigable tire. 

Zeus is the root of the sea : He is the sun and moon. 

Zeu3 is the king ; He is the author of universal life ; 

One Power, one Daemon, the mighty prince of all things ; 

One kingly frame, in which this universe revolves, 

Fire and water, earth and ether, night and day, 

And Metis (Counsel) the primeval father, and all-delightful 
Eros (Love). 

All these things are united in the vast body of Zeus. 

Would you behold his head and his fair face, 

It is the resplendent heaven, round which his golden locks 

Of glittering stars are beautifully exalted in the air. 

On each side are the two golden taurine horns, 

The risings and settings, the tracks of the celestial gods ; 

His eyes the sun and the opposing moon ; 

His unfallacious Mind the royal incorruptible ether." 

Again, and fully more in point : — 
" The priests who escaped," says Hestiaeus, "took with 



184 HISTORY OF THE 

them the implements of worship of the Enyalian Jove, and 
came to Senaar (Es-Ain-Ar) in Babylon. But they were 
again driven from thence by the introduction of a diversity 
of tongues," &c. (of religious opinions?) 

On these fragments, Mr Isaac Perston Cory 
remarks as follows: — 

(t What concurring circumstances might have operated to 
the dispersion, we have no clue to in the narrative of Moses. 
He mentions the miraculous confusion of the languages, and 
that the Lord scattered the people abroad from thence upon 
the face of the earth, and they left off to build the city. But 
if we ma} r credit the heathen accounts above referred to, with 
which the Hindoo, and indeed almost every remnant of tradi- 
tionary lore concur, a schism, most probably both of a poli- 
tical and religious nature was the result (cause ?) ; a bitter 
war carried on, or at least a bloody field was fought ; from 
which the Souths, defeated and excommunicated by their 
brethren, betook themselves, in haughty independence, to the 
mountains of Cashgar (Cu-Esh-Og-Ar ?) and the north." 

Here we have the Esh-Cuths, Scuits, Scots, or 
man-dog worshippers, by contraction 'Scuthics, 
Scythics, Scythians, being beat by the En, or 
river-worshippers, assuming their high — their 
mountain independence sufficiently early, as more 
favourable for their astronomical purposes. The 
reader will find that Asiatic Ethiopia, and African 
Ethiopia, or Nubia, with their adjoining territories, 
were Cuthic. The Belgse in Gaul, the Pelasgi in 
Greece, the Sacus (Es-Cus), the Palestine (Ap- 
El-Es-Tau), and Phoenicians (Eph-Ain), were 
Cuthics, or 'Scuths. The root will be found over 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 185 

America, Lapland, China, and Japan, as well as 
in the disputed term Scotland. Such is our view 
of the Babelonian confusion. 

To return to B : — 

Ueulanach, a leader, a frontier : also a term 
amongst mariners for the ninth wave, said to be 
much more awful than the intervening eight. The 
idea is beautiful: here he comes "like a whale 
whom all his billows follow," or like a leader with 
his stern attendants; and these followers urged on 
by another wave called CWanach, i.e. the urger ; 
which wave, of course, becomes Ueulanach in turn, 
just as present becomes past, or as the future 
becomes present. This ninth wave is particularly- 
watched by the person at the helm. It is called 
also muir-bdite, i.e. the drowner. We have been 
in an open boat at sea, when, to save our lives and 
our bark, we had recourse to pouring oil upon this 
billow to prevent it from breaking in upon us; 
and it had the desired effect. The idea oftentimes 
occurred to us since, that, if people, ignorant of 
Phoenician tactics, were to see this ceremony, they 
would have at once pronounced us as offering 
libations to Neptune, with a view to appease the 
angry god. The report would have been sub- 
stantially correct, and might have laid the foun- 
dation of no bad fable. Macdonald, the poet, 
describes these waves to the life in his inimitable 
sea-storm, thus: — 



186 HISTORY OF THE 

" Na Z?eulanaich arda lia'cheann ' 
Ri searb-bheiceil, 
Na CwZanaich san cla' dudaid 
Ri fuaim gheimnich." 

i.e. The towering hoary leaders heaving, roaring ; 
The urgers with sullen allies swell the chorus. 

The Celt will see that a translation to any other 
language equally expressive with the original is 
impossible ; that is Nature herself speaking ! 
The Latins, it would seem, got hold of the name 
of this wave, and, in ignorance of the root, actually 
converted it into a very whale ! Lat. balcena, a 
whale. It is remarkable that u, added to the 
letter Z>, makes a more active verb than either 
a or e : and why ? Because action or exertion 
necessarily calls forth a protrusion of the lips, 
followed by a forcible impulse of the breath, pro- 
ducing bu or pic. Hence it becomes the root of 
6wail, to strike ; Zwailtier, a striker, a thrasher, a 
barn servant; buille, a stroke, the pulsation of 
the heart. So in Chaldee, " And he set his 
heart (his bn bl) on Daniel to deliver him." — 
Daniel vi. 14. We have treated this root under 
nb lb* The character B, as a mutation of P, 
both Naturally and Cabalistically considered, in- 
volves the idea of inflation. We have already 
instanced fohir, the inflating serpent; to which we 
may add, 5otal, a bottle; balg, the belly, a bilge, 
a sack made of skins; builgein, a globule; 6einn, a 
mountain, the idea being a swelling, or protuber- 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 187 

ance of Nature. This is a powerful, orderly, and 
natural militia of evidence, in which the thoughtful 
and intelligent reader will see the origin of Lan- 
guage, the spread of Thought, the progress of 
Mind, and the use of analogy and figure. 

" A' stoc 's a meanglain le cheile, 
'Siad ag eiridh mar a b'abhaist." 

Of the Character C. 

The power of C in the Celtic alphabet is Ke or 
Ek, Ka or Ki. It is never soft like s. It is a 
sound naturally produced in tossing or throwing a 
heavy body, in which case the root of the tongue 
is fixed so as to close up the interior of the mouth, 
and so assist Nature. When the exertion is over, 
the breath issues with a sudden impulse, producing 
the sound call or hah: hence cah or ca, to throw, 
toss as a stone or javelin; cah or cath, a battle, 
a fight, a contest. It is expressive, of course, of 
the primitive mode of fighting. So Milton, on the 
murder of Abel : — 

" Whereat he (Cain) inly raged, and as they talked, 
Smote him in the midriff with a stone 
That heat out life." 

And Homer: — 

" A broken rock the force of Pirus threw, 
Who from cold Aenus led the Thracian crew, 
Full ou his ankle dropt the ponderous stone, 
Burst the strong nerves, and crash'd the solid bone." 



188 HISTORY OF THE 

Again: — 

" His figur'd shield, a shining orh he takes, 
And in his hand a pointed javelin shakes." 

Cathich or cothich, do for yourself, fight your 
own way ; figuratively, cat, to throw away, to 
waste : Ctoher, a city, a place of defence; cathadh, 
snow-drifting, the idea being the result of the tear 
of elements. Cah-da\ tartan, the battle-colour ; 
gath, a dart, a javelin, a lance, a spear, a sting of 
a bee, of a wasp, of a scorpion ; also, by analogy, 
a sunbeam, a glance from a designing young 
woman's eyes, &c. The g is here employed as a 
modification of c. We may mention, in corrobora- 
tion, that the hieroglyphic for the sound k is two 
human arms pointing upwards, as we would fancy 
those of Moses to have been during the memorable 
battle of Re-Phidim ! Do we not, by the way, 
recognise in the name of this place the priest of the 
Solar worship, Re-Eph ? 

A short cough produces the sound cah, and 
hence its natural name cahsad, a cough, to cough ; 
casadaich, the act of coughing. When c is used 
cabalistically, the leading idea, as we have already 
shown, is in can or cu, the note of a species of 
dog, and consequently employed in a religious 
sense. 

" Gach duilleag a thuiteas o geugaibh, 
'Naite gach te eirich 'dha ann." 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 189 



Of the Character D. 

Ed, De, or Da. This sound is so closely allied 
to Et or Te, that we shall consider them as a 
variety or a mutation of the same sound. The 
natural parent of D or T, keeping off " Tau," 
the bark of the terrier, is the act of tugging, or 
drawing any thing towards you forcibly. Thus 
engaged, we press the edges of the tongue against 
the upper gum, and when the exertion is over, 
withdraw it suddenly. It is very remarkable, that 
the hieroglyphic for this sound is a hand drawn 
horizontally, as if offered in friendship. Nor is it 
less remarkable, that Dod is one of the terms for 
a hand in Celtic: " na chiar dhoidibh;" i.e. in his 

brawny grasp A. M'D. The primary idea is 

a hand and a hand, or hand-in-hand, and by ana- 
logy, friendship, love, concord, &c. It is the 
word employed by Solomon to express the beloved 
one, -pn dud, or d and d, or if you will, a hand 
and a hand. They are the very letters in the 
name of David, perhaps because he was a loving 
and beloved person. JQwrf-shuil is also our term 
for a humid, beaming, friendly eye. We have now 
the leading idea of daimh, relationship, affinity, 
and of drah, or dragh, to draw, to pull ; draghail, 
troublesome as a drag, of which we would fain get 



190 HISTORY OF THE 

rid; tfa'ruinn, to draw, drag, tug, pull. The idea 
is extended, by the rules of analogy, to the draw- 
ing of lots, although not requiring exertion suffi- 
cient to produce the sound; and again, from the 
lot to a space of time, for example, " do tharrainn 
fein" i.e. thy own turn. It is so in Esth. ii. 12, 
" Now when every maid's (nn tr) turn was come:" 
and verse 15, " Now when the (in tr) turn of 
Esther was come." 

The reader will have occasion to remark, that 
some sounds which are exactly similar have not 
unfrequently a very different meaning — a different 
leading idea; roots being just as varied as the 
causes which produced them. Of this we have 
an instance in tarrn, thunder, and tarruinn, to 
draw or pull. The idea in the one is primary, 
in the other consequential. Here we are tempted, 
notwithstanding it may be deemed a digression, to 
submit two or three proofs which just occur to us, 
of the rationality of the Celtic : they testify so 
far that we take our language immediately from 
Nature, and from Nature's God: those who pride 
in any other source are perfectly welcome. Teu 
or teo, to warm, to simmer; it is our term for the 
first sound produced by a pot or pan, after being 
put upon the fire, when the water begins to exhale. 
The word is pronounced below the breath, in close 
imitation; metaphorically, to feel warmly towards 
one : " cha do theo m'o chri' ris ;" i.e. my heart 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 191 

never felt warmly towards him. This introduces us 
to the leading idea of the term employed by Moses 
to express the first stage of creation. " And the 
earth was without form and void," where the text 
is inn teu. It possesses the same leading idea 
with ceo, mist, exhalation ; deo, spirit, life, a 
breath of air; and is found in chaos or ceos. Of 
the same pot the sound now becomes louder, when, 
of course, we must — as every true echo must — con- 
form : hence we call the second sound gaoir, what 
the English call a simper, from what root w r ho can 
show? The water now comes a-boil, and again 
changes tune, which we call gbil, or gail. Does it 
contain a body not sufficiently fluid to produce 
this sound — for instance, porridge, or flummery — 
we term the boiling of this body toiteil, expressive 
of the breaking of the globules; a term which we 
properly apply also to the puffing of the steam 
in lifting the lid in boiling. Again, in washing 
clothes: a woman goes to a running stream and 
places, if not already placed, a large smooth stone 
upon the brink, half immersed. Her mistress, let 
us suppose, is looking on and giving instructions. 
She calls out " bog e" i.e. soak it : the woman 
thumps the article of dress against the water to 
soak it. She now gives the word, "post e" the 
patient is now beat against the stone, or thumped 
by a ponderous wand. Now is heard " rubl e;" 
the washerwoman instantly rubbles it, by pulling 



192 HISTORY OF THE 

it quickly to and fro on the surface of the water, 
in order that the running stream may carry away 
the alloy. The linen now is formed into a string 
and rinsed, which process we call faisg, or fas- 
gadh; all expressive of the action, and engendered 
thereby. 

T, as the Tautic emblem, having its root in the 
yelp of the dog, has nothing to do here, but will 
be found chiefly in religious appellations, having 
relation to astronomy, astrology, or water-worship. 
In this sense it is the root of Tay, the name of 
the most copious river in Scotland; of Thames, a 
river in England of no mean magnitude ; of Touey, 
a river in Wales; of Tavy and Tau, rivers in 
Devonshire; of the Tago, a river in Spain, &c. 
There is also a Tay in China, whence perhaps, 
by analogy, the term Tea. Ti-shan is the name 
of an island in the interior of China, very high and 
very large, from whence the divinities Tsing-quas, 
monsters with men's faces and fishes' bodies, (Tau- 
Es-In-Cu,) can mount the sky, or, as they are 
very light, can live in the clouds.* Tobar, or 
Tiber, a well, or spring of water, is also a religious 
term, resolvable into Tau-Qb-Aur: the Pagan 
Trinity. Tipperary, in Ireland, is worshipped by 
thousands to this day. Tobar-Muire, Tobermory, 
was a well dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It gives 

* See Worship of the Elements, by J. Christie. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 193 

name now to a considerable village and a safe an- 
chorage in the sound of Mull. 

" 'Si labhair Brenus, ( Ab-re-ain) gaisgeach treun le smachd, 
A bhual an JRoimh, (Roii) 'sa phill a sron a steach, 
Mac Mhares (Mar-Es) raor, an dia bu deon le feachd, 
'S bha buaidh na Gaelig fuaigkte a ghna' 'na bheachd." 



Of the Character E. 

The Celtic E is pronounced with the same 
organs as #, except that in e the under part of the 
mouth is protruded, which bespeaks an upward 
direction; and wonderfully does the result corre- 
spond; for, whilst a will be found to be expressive of 
simply consenting or breathing, and i will be found 
to be the root of grovelling objects, e will be found 
in almost every term having relation to height or 
loftiness : for example, ce, the heavens, the firma- 
ment; re and real, the sun, moon; also a star, the 
" Rhea" of mythology; re, plain, smooth, like the 
azure canopy; m'lein, by analogy, a plain, a level, a 
bowling-green; ie, or Ye, God; Zeus, light, the sun; 
Nef> (Oin-Eph) heaven; erich, rise, to rise, to be 
exalted on high, &c. 

We trust, however, we shall not be understood 
as confining any vowel or consonant to one idea, 
however lofty. JE, aspirated and pronounced short, 
and accompanied by a significant look, asks a 
question, thus : eh? as much as to say, I did 

i 



194 HISTORY OF THE 

not hear you, say it over again. With a radical c, 
or g, it means a notch or niche: and why? In 
making a notch, you make an incision with your 
knife, in a stick or staff, in a slanting direction, 
first from left to right, and again from right to 
left, or vice versa. At the second incision, the 
wood is cut away, and the edge of the knife, in 
crossing the opposite incision, and meeting a solid 
body, produces the sound ec or eg. Not only so, 
but let the wood be hard and the iron blunt, and 
the very organs of the operator will produce the 
sound ec, or eg. In our own unsophisticated 
native island, the herdsman had a staff, with a 
notch on it for every head under his charge, with 
often a large notch to distinguish bulls or tups. 
The census was taken nightly, as the flock passed 
one by one through a gate or narrow defile, 
into the "fang" or fold, so soon as a certain star 
made its appearance: hence called "rionnag-a- 
bhuachille" i.e. the herd-star, for this very 
reason. The herdsman stood at one side of 
the gate, with his rod stretched out, by way of 
pointing to each as it passed : if the number did 
not tally with the " ecs" or notches, a search was 
forthwith instituted. Perhaps this is the leading 
idea in the terms dec, ten; deachamh, a tithe, a 
tenth part, an ec being made for every tenth 
animal? Lev. xxvii. 32. favours this opinion: 
" Concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 195 

of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth 
shall be holy unto the Lord." " Again, Lev. 
xxxiii. 13 : " In the cities of the mountains, .... 
shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him 
that telleth them." Be this as it may, we have no 
hesitation in asserting that this practice, — this 
ancient method of Book-keeping, — is the root of 
egm, precise, nick-nack; e^anta, or egaxe, correct, 
just, precise; " an e^an a cheile," to groove, dove- 
tail, &c. With a formative d, dec, or deac, to 
dictate ; deacddh, dictation, inspiration ; eaga, or 
eagha, a triangular steel for making notches or 
teeth in hooks or saws; eaghan, the ivy, by ana- 
logy, because of its resemblance to the teeth of a 
hook or saw. We do not mean to inculcate that 
Adam made all these terms. No : our argument 
is, that language has been progressive — keeping- 
pace with the Arts and Sciences. 

The original manner of writing among the 
ancient Britons, was, by cutting the letters with a 
knife upon sticks. " Several sticks with writing 
upon them were put together, forming a frame, 
which was called Pithnein"* The writer saw one 
of these sticks two years ago among the relics 
preserved by Lord Douglas at Bothwell (Biith- 
Bhaol) Castle, and it struck him forcibly as 
explanatory of Ezekiel xxxvii. 16, 17, viz. — 

* See Fry's Pantographia, page 307. 



196 HISTORY OF THE 

" Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write 
upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his com- 
panions : then take another stick, and write upon it, For 
Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel 
his companions : and join them one to another into one stick ; 
and they shall become one in thine hand." 

• 
Once more, e, pronounced very abruptly, and 

with a scowl, conveys the idea of a sudden check, 
prohibition, or reproof : even an infant understands 
eh! emphatically uttered, to mean, what are you 
about ? stop short ! Hence, perhaps, it is that an 
initial e or ea forms an absolute privative or nega- 
tive ; that is to say, it overturns or reverses the 
import of the word with which it is connected; 
thus: ceart, just; e-ceart, unjust, wicked; rial, 
sense, judgment; e-cial, nonsense; trom, heavy; 
e-trom, light, portable, &c. We had written the 
foregoing remarks upon the character e before we 
fell in with Marquis Spineto's " Lectures on the 
Elements of Hieroglyphics and Egyptian Antiqui- 
ties," where the reader will find that two or three 
straight lines or notches, together with the blade 
of a knife, are the hieroglyphic for e or i I This 
is a remarkable coincidence, to say the least of it ! 

" Mark how the human fabric from its birth 
Imbibes a flavour of its parent earth ; 
As various tracts enforce a various toil, 
The manners speak the idiom of the soil" 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 197 



CHAPTER VIII. 



" A stoc 's a meanglain le cheile, 

'Siad ag eiridh mar a b'abhuist, 

An eiseamail cainnt cha teid , 

, S gach cainnt eile feumaidh pairt dhi.' 



In English : — 

" Lo ! the trunk, rearing from its parent earth, 
And now to branches num'rous giving birth : 
Such is the Celtic tongue ; an Eden oak, 
Supplying nations from its hoary stock." 

Of the Character F. 

We regard F, with the learned Mr Davies, as a 
mutation of p, or rather of ph. Its Celtic power 
is eph, aph, or iph ; carelessly, phe, pha, or fi. 
The reader, we have no doubt, is already before 
us in pronouncing this sign or sound — keeping the 
puffing serpent in mind — expressive of blowing 
with the lips, whether in inflating one's self, or 
in representing a flying object. That it occupies 
this station in the formation of language, we be- 
lieve we shall be able successfully to prove, if we 
have not already treated it sufficiently in connexion 
with the serpent Eph or Qph. To give truth full 
scope, we shall submit here a few additional 
examples : ipht, or fte, a feather, the sport of 
winds; " 'S ipt an eoin 'cur leatrom orr';" their 



198 HISTORY OF THE 

heads seeming to yield to the plumage in their 
bonnets ; £'fealuich, to fly, to fly on wing ; i teach, 
plumage ; i'te&g, a flight of a bird. We leave out the 
ph in deference to the present mode of writing the 
term. It is properly employed by Moses to express 
breathing into Adam's nostrils: n§ s iphe, Gen. ii.7; 
and by Ezek. xxxvii. 9, " breathe (n!F iphe) upon 
these slain." So Parkhurst, upon the root " n^ 
iphe, to breathe, or blow as the air in motion." 
The action generates the root. The action, indeed, 
is so connected with the lips, that in Hab. ii. 3, 
it is rendered to speak : nay, it is rendered face 
itself, and becomes actually the root of the Celtic 
phi&xiis, or ^anuis, face, countenance, a witness ; 
and of the English face. This is the sense in 
which it becomes the root of " shew-bread;" the 
bread of faces, or witness-bread. It is difficult to 
separate this root from the name n^ Ipht, Japhet, 
the father of the Phoenicians. The promise is, 
" God shall (na*» ipht, nsF ipht) enlarge Japhet;" 
where the leading idea may be, God shall blow 
this son of winds — this mariner beyond sea; his seed 
will seize upon the Isles, after their tribes, as the 
original is sometimes rendered. Allowing the palm 
to Iph or Eph, the symbolic serpent, still the idea 
is inflation ; and it is avowed that the Phoenicians 
— the line of Japhet — were the first and most expert 
mariners in the world. 

The reader may not suppose that herein we are 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 199 

setting history at defiance. By no means. We 
are duly aware that the Phoenicians and the people 
called in Scripture Canaanites, are one and the 
same, and that they are said to be the descendants, 
not of Japhet, but of Ham. That they are the 
same people, no one will doubt who reflects that 
Matthew, who wrote either in Hebrew or Syriac, 
calls the same person a Canaanitish woman, whom 
Mark, writing in Greek, calls a Phoenician of 
Syria. Of this, the following, from profane his- 
tory, is pointedly corroborative, viz. : — 

'•' The Babylonians say," says Eupolemus, " that the first 
was Belus ( Aub-El), who is the same as Cronus (Cu-Or-Ain). 
And from him descended Belus and Chanaan ( Kain- Am), 
and this Chanaan was the father of the Phoenicians. Another 
of his sons was Chum, who is called by the Greeks Asbolus 
(Aish- Ob-El), the father of the Ethiopians, and the brother 
of Mestraim, the father of the Egyptians." 

Thus also Thallus : — 

" Belus, the king of the Assyrians, and Cronus, the Titan, 
made war against Zeus and his compeers, who are called 
Gods. He says, moreover, that ? Gygus (OgygusJ was smitten, 
and fled to t^t^^av, Tartesson," v. Eus. 

This is the Babylonian squabble, and the tract 
of the Celtic wave. 

But these premises admitted, let us not forget 
that Japhet and Ham are two brothers, brought 
up together, and, therefore, speaking the same 
language. Let us also bear in mind, that the 



200 HISTORY OF THE 

appellations being oracular, the one expressive of 
the dog solar symbol, and the other of the serpent; 
and, again, that the appellations, as oracular, are 
commutable, convertible, and equivalent ; and 
what is the amount of the difference ? Why, the 
amount is this, — namely, that whilst Chanaan is 
their federal head, under the appellation Canaan- 
ites, Iph-t, or Japhet, is their federal head as 
Phiantis or Phoenicians. It was under this latter 
appellation they built Palae Tyre, and Sidon, — it 
was under this appellation they made themselves 
lords of the sea, — it was under this appellation they 
colonised Spain, and Gaul, and the British Isles. 
To what degree of greatness they had arrived, we 
may gather from Ezekiel, chap, xxvii., viz.: — 

" Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders 
have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy ship- 
boards of fir-trees of Senir ; they have taken cedars from 
Lebanon to make masts for thee. Of the oaks of Bashan 
have they made thine oars ; the company of the Ashurites 
have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of 
Chittim. Fine linen, with broidered work from Egypt, was 
that which thou spreadedst forth to be thy sail ; blue and 
purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. 
The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners : thy 
wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots. The 
ancients of Gebal, and the wise men thereof, were in thee 
thy calkers : all the ships of the sea with their mariners were 
in thee to occupy thy merchandise. They of Persia, and of 
Lud, and of Phut, were in thine army, thy men of war : they 
hanged the shield and helmet in thee ; they set forth thy 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 201 

comeliness. The men of Arvad, with thine army, were upon 
thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy 
towers : they hanged their shields upon thy walls round 
about ; they have made thy beauty perfect. Tarshish was 
thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches ; 
with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs. Javan, 
Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants : they traded 
the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. They 
of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses, 
and horsemen, and mules. The men of Dedan were thy mer- 
chants ; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand : they 
brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony. Syria 
was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of 
thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, 
and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. 
Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants : they 
traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and 
honey, and oil, and balm. Damascus was thy merchant in 
the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude 
of all riches ; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool. Dan 
also and Javan, going to and fro, occupied in thy fairs: bright 
iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market. Dedan was 
thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots. Arabia, and 
all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, 
and rams, and goats : in these were they thy merchants. The 
merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants : 
they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with 
all precious stones, and gold. Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, 
the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, %nd Chilmad, were thy 
merchants. These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, 
in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich 
apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy 
merchandise. The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy 
market ; and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious 
in the midst of the seas." 

I 2 



202 HISTORY OF THE 

And again, Isaiah xxiii. 8 : — 

" Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning 
city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the 
honourable of the earth ?*■ 

But to return. PAwaradh, or/uaradh, to sail close 
to the wind ; jfaadach, to be driven away by stress of 
wind^ar, cold, windy ; yairge, the sea — embracing 
in idea, ocean, and the agency of the wind to bear 
one over it; yodris, a ferry, beyond seas; yaradh, 
the price levied at a ferry ; jforadh, coppice, or 
brushwood put on the floor of a boat in ferrying 
cattle, to prevent their feet going through the 
bottom ; /uaraich, to cool meat by blowing upon 
it : yiiadan, strange, exotic ; the idea is a chance 
person left by the winds, and watching for a 
favourable gale. In mountain songs, young 
women are frequently cautioned against taking up 
with such a one ; y&ireadh, the dawn or break of 
day, because accompanied in the East by a gentle 
breeze — whence, perhaps, by remote analogy, 
jfoirbheanadh, premonition, notice, advertisement : 
another term for dawn is cawvanich, where the 
leading idea undeniably is the Barker, the warner 
or premonisher. We must never lose sight of the 
fact, that a great part of language is analogical, 
the primitive idea being always in some sensible 
object or objects. PAeat, or yeat, a whistle, to 
whistle ; jfeadan, or ^/eadag, a flute, a chanter, a 
pipe. It is remarkable to find how the ideal 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 203 

meanings blend like the colours of the rainbow ! — 
now meeting and mixing, now diverging, and now, 
like the Borealis (Ob-Re-El) race, changing in a 
twinkling, from a natural to a symbolical sense ! 
For instance, in the island of Coll, as well as in Tire, 
there is a " Pen-Hou" i.e. the mountain of the 
Barker, on the summit of which an immense Druidi- 
cal stone may be seen, for which Dr Johnson himself 
could not account. Another name for it is Phetan, a 
sacred name, the origin of which, the reader cannot 
have forgot. The next high place bespeaks the 
compound divinity, Eph-El, and a third the 
Trinity, namely, Cu-El-Ab, pronounced Cfa&ach, 
where the chapel is. This is making the east 
and the west meet. Phet, the reader will plainly 
see, by the way, is the radix of PhetdXt, the Celtic 
for Italy. But to return, ^eile, a kilt, the sport of 
winds; an idea not foreign to " Pelek?" ^/radh, a 
deer, because poetically wild and tameless as the 
wind; ^adhach, a deer-hunt; y?adhaich, wild, sav- 
age, unsocial; jfosgnag, a fan for winnowing corn 
with; yasgain, to winnow corn by throwing it in 
the wind. In all these we would prefer ph to f; 
but we take j^ because, under that letter the words 
are given in our lexicons, and to substitute ph 
might lead the student astray, who may want to 
satisfy himself, by turning up the leaves for them. 
The hieroglyphic for F and P, just as we would 
expect, is the serpent Eph; the author of F ! 



204 HISTORY OF THE 

The reader cannot have forgot this serpent the 

author and inspirer of the sound Ef, or Eph, or 
slovenly, Ev, Op, Aub, &c. 

" 'Nuair shin i' cliathach air farsuineachd, 
Soirbheas ma sliasaid ga brosnachadh, 
Bba 'luathas mar mbial-chu bras astarach, 
'Na thean-ruith air sliabh, sfiadh air thoiseach air, 
Pronnadh nan tonn liath 'sgan smacgachadh, 
'S shnaigheadh i mar iarunn lochdrach iad, 

'Sl'n Du-ghleannach a bh' ann." 



Of the Character G. 

This sound we have already shown to be but 
a variety of c, or at least very near akin to it. 
There is this difference however, namely, c belongs 
more particularly to the act of tossing, or throw- 
ing with the hand ; g to grasping or hugging ; 
hence, glac, to seize, catch ; glare, the palm of the 
hand in the attitude of clasping; figuratively, a 
glen or dale. G and k are interchangeable letters; 
and hence shall be found to exchange places not 
unfrequently, especially in their religious assem- 
blies as the offspring of one common parent, 
namely, aug, or auk, the barker, oftentimes written 
in the rapidity of pronunciation simply G or K. 
For instance, Heb. ^ Gmr, #omer ; Welsh 
Kumera, from cu, the dog, and mar, the sea. 
Karnac, (Ku-Ar-Ain?) and Qsorgon, (Ow-Es-Ar- 
Og-Ain ?) are terms full of astronomy. The 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 205 

dracontium of Carnac (a term derived from Dearc, 
a species of serpent, of piercing fascinating eyes, 
as also the lizard) is one of the most magnificent 
and interesting remains of the Celtic religion. It 
is situated half-a-mile from the village of that 
name, in the department of the Morbihan in 
Britany, and nine miles from the town of Aur&y. 
The length of the temple, following its sinuosities 
is eight miles ! It is descriptive of the figure of 
an enormous serpent moving over the ground. 
The labour of its erection may be imagined, says 
Deane, from the fact, that it originally consisted 
of eleven rows of stones, about ten thousand in 
number, of which more than three hundred aver- 
aged from fifteen to seventeen feet in height ; and 
from sixteen to twenty or thirty feet in girth ! 
This was a solar chapel upon a grand scale. 
Spineto gives the barker to O in the hieroglyphic 
alphabet. Its very ears there form the second 
part of k, and ought, therefore, to represent K as 
it does on the Famese globe. 

M 'Nuair bhuireas damh beinne-bige, 
'Sa bheucas damh beinn-na-craige, 
Freagraidh na daimh ud da cheile, 
>S thig feidh a' coirre-na-snaige." 



206 HISTORY OF THE 



Of the Character H. 

The letter h, seldom, if ever, begins a Celtic 
word. It is employed, however, as an aspiration, 
and if we would write our words as we express 
them, it is indispensable as such. It is not un- 
common for a schoolmaster or a parent, in enjoin- 
ing silence, to utter the sound h-ush, or h-uist, 
and no more ; when accompanied by a wave of the 
hand and a certain look of authority, it cannot be 
mistaken. Hence, h-uist or cuist, peace, hold thy 
peace; and eist, listen, hark; eisdeachd, to eaves- 
drop, also to be slow in returning an answer. 
Another form of it is, sh, or shi; whence shi, 
peace, silence, calm. This is the root rendered 
in Judges iii. 19, "keep silence." "I have a 
secret errand unto thee, O king," said Ehud to 
Eglon, who said on es, or hs ; also in Nehemiah 
viii. 11, " So the Levites stilled the people, saying, 
(ion esv) hold your peace." Eisdibh in Celtic is, 
listen, or hearken ye. It is beautiful to find how 
the second example assumes the plural termina- 
tion. This is perhaps the proper place to show 
the distinction between shi, peace, calm, silence, 
&c, and shi, fairy, elfish, from the identity of 
the root called " men of peace." The sithic is the 
reverse of a spirit of peace. It is a dexterous 
child-stealer, and particularly troublesome to 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 207 

women in child-bed. Many a plump child it has 
carried away to Fairy-land, leaving a withered 
brat in its stead, and many a good cow its "sagat" 
or fairy arrow has laid low. To call this being a 
thing of peace is a perversion of language. The 
truth is, the ideal meaning of shl, in the latter 
sense, is in echo — in the hissing sibilant noise issu- 
ing from rocks and hills in the very opposite 
direction, it may be, of where the cause is at work, 
which may be the rustling of trees in the wind, 
the souch of the ocean, or the reflection of a water- 
fall, magnified by ignorance, solitude, and super- 
stition, into living beings, inhabiting rocks and 
hills. That this is the ideal meaning is corrobor- 
ated by the song : — 

M Gun sheinn a bhean-shl a torman mulaid." 
i. e. The fairy had sung her murmuring liy. 

The writer, when a boy, knew the terror of 
these sounds in the rocks of Caledonia. He does 
not forget the day he ran home in no ordinary 
haste, with the awful tale, that the bean-shi, or 
fairy women, were grinding with the quern in a 
certain rock. It was certainly a good imitation, 
but after-experience found it out to have been the 
dashing of the waves reverberated. Again, if we 
mean to write a correct echo of the process of 
tuning a bag-pipe, we require to assume the 
aspirate, thus, h-ilili. This root is employed in 



208 HISTORY OF THE 

I. Kings i. 40, *>bbn chili, or hlli and properly 
rendered "piped" " They piped with their pipes, 
and rejoiced with great joy:" literally they h-ililied 
with their h-ililis, etc. This is scripture for it, 
that our national music, the soul-thrilling note of 
the pipe, is not a thing of yesterday. That this 
is the ideal meaning of the term, no one, we pre* 
sume will deny. The Celtic reader knows that 
when a good performer is introduced, he is repre- 
sented as playing sweetly, and always with refer- 
ence to the high key. 
For example : — 

" Piob ga seinn gu h-illdg&ch etrom," 

where we have the very root in question. Converse- 
ly, when a performer is satirized, he is represented 
as dwelling upon the bass, or low key, in equally 
imitative terms. 
For example : — 

" A' sparradh h- Odrochain an iurbal Odrochain, 
A' sparradh Odrochain au ton Odrobhi.*' 

Here the chanter is called " h-Odrochain," and 
the instrument as a whole " Odrobhi," satirically. 
The poet in the same verse explains himself, viz : — 

Si Nach tuigear air ddigh 
Ach o-heoin 's o~hi" 

And again : — 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 209 

" Bheir i 'chiad eubhadh, 
Re seideadh a' gaoithe, 
Mar roncan ba caoilidb, 
'Si 'faotinn a' bhais." 

Since writing the above, we find ourselves fortu- 
nately borne out by Parkhurst, with regard to the 
primitive idea of the root ; whom see. The bag- 
pipe originally consisted of a bladder with drones 
and chanter of reed or bulrushes. The writer has 
made and played upon an instrument such. " A 
bladder with pipes in it," says Parkhurst, " was 
played by blind men in Spain, and called by them 
a symphony." The more common name of the 
instrument, as a whole, piob, or phiob, belongs to 
the root phi, inflation, inspiration, and so does 
foirfe, perfect ; and even pMosophy, &c. 

" 'Nuair gblacbte 'san achlais i, 
Beus bu taitnich' chunna mi, 
Siunnsair pailt-thollach gun di, 
'Si osceann cinn gu fad-cbrannach, 
Be sud caismeachd ard mo ruin, 
Cronan gaireacb, barr gacb ciul, 
Bras phuirt mbeara, leanadh dlu 
Cliath guluthor grad-mheurach." 

Of the Character I. 

/has two sounds in Celtic — 1st, long like ee in 
deem, and 2d, short like ee in feet. In pronounc- 
ing it the tongue rests against the lower teeth, 
whilst the under part of the mouth is made to 
retire just the opposite of e. Here the idea 



210 HISTORY OF THE 

naturally suggests itself ; if the organs of i be the 
reverse of those of e, then upon natural principles 
i ought to be expressive of objects the reverse of e. 
But it has been said, that e points upwards ; i 
therefore ought to point downwards. Nature, the 
dame of harmony — Nature, ever true to herself, 
concedes the point, and cheerfully offers proof, 
viz., 2sal, or zosal, low, down, downwards, mean, 
grovelling. Tir-losal, the low-country; foc'ar, 
the bottom, foundation, nether part; fochdarach, 
an inferior, underling ; sar, the west, where the 
sun goes down, " Chaidh a ghrian sis" the sun 
went down. I, a woman, in opposition to E, a 
man, from her inferiority materially and mentally ; 
whence ish, she, and esh, he, &c. 

Language is indeed " a mighty maze, but not 
without a plan." 

" 'S truagh an diugh nach beo an fheoghainn, 
Gun ann ach an ceo do'n bhuidhinn !" 



Of the Character L. 

Power, Al 9 El, II, 01; or, La, Le, Li, Lo, 
indifferently. 

We have shown this sign under the word Ledn, 
to have been the offspring of that noble animal, 
and, therefore, to be considered sometimes sacred. 
Its hieroglyphic is, of course, a lion; and that 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 211 

animal again having been in Pagan ages, the 
symbol, or deity of heat, which brings fertility, as 
well as of water, not less requisite, the letter L, 
is found in a sacred or Cabalistic sense to be 
expressive of both heat and water. This we 
have sufficiently exemplified in page 87. We 
may not, however, allow the lion nor the Cabal- 
istic school either, to monopolize the power L; 
other actions and events of nature demand a con- 
siderable share in it. For example, the sound I 
is indispensable in imitating a person licking a solid 
body with the tongue. Hence we say imlich, to 
lick, lick. " Tha bho 'g imlich" the cow is lick- 
ing. " Tha'n cu 'g imlich" the dog is licking. 
Here by watching the action, we find that every 
letter of the two syllables belong properly to the 
root ; the im is formed in closing the lips, and the 
lich in returning the tongue. In lapping water as 
a dog, the lis also required but not im. This action, 
indeed, gave birth to the term lap. It does not 
naturally require im, as the action of licking a solid 
body. The dog's tongue is allowed on all hands, 
to possess a healing property ; we read of Lazarus 
that "the dogs came and licked his sores." Akin 
to this idea, is the root blais, to taste ; bids, taste; 
blasdigich, the act of testing the taste of meat or 
fluid with the tongue. In man, and most animals, 
the tongue is the sole organ of taste, this sense 
resides in the raised papillce which are found 



212 HISTORY OF THE 

covering its upper surface, especially towards the 
middle and the point; but our business is not to 
describe the tongue, but to prove that the term 
has its root in the action — in Nature. The noise 
produced in the stomach in swallowing liquid, de- 
mands the sound el, to give it ideal existence. 
This noise we naturally call glug ; to swallow, 
sluig ; and the thorax, slugan. " Balgum an da 
ghluig" i.e. a greedy mouthful of liquid that takes 
two efforts to swallow. 

We would now respectfully ask the honest 
reader, Has our principle thus far carried us 
through? Is language not based upon natural 
principles? Reverse this law of Nature, now exhi- 
bited in the Celtic language, and what rule or 
principle can you devise or discover by which to 
make it work with equal harmony ? None ! The 
dial is true to the sun, although it be not shone 
upon ; and Nature will own her own child in the 
language of the Gael, whether the black clouds of 
prejudice intervene, or whether the bland sunbeam 
of Truth gladdens the faithful index. 

t( Nor be my thoughts 

Presumptuous counted ; if amid the calm 
That soothes the vernal evening into smiles, 
1 steal, impatient, from the sordid haunts 
Of strife and low ambition, to attend 
Thy sacred presence in thy sylvan shade, 
Daughter of God and man— immortal 
Tongue!" 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 213 



CHAPTER IX. 

" Fountains it had eternal, and two gates." 

Of the Character M. 

Power, Am, Em, Ma, or Mil. 

It cases our thesis in a mail of steel, the fact that 
certain natural actions require to be represented 
by an exclusive sign or sound, whilst all other 
characters fail to convey an idea of the action. 
There is none other sound in our alphabet so 
expressive of including, surrounding, or embracing, 
as am, em, or mu* It is pronounced by an infant 
of days when including its mother's teat in its 
mouth ; and hence Am, M am, or Ma, a mother ; 
muime, a nurse, a wet-nurse ; mulan, the breast, 
a stack, the pap ; mam, a tumour, a dome, a round 
hill, &c. The idea is found in maol, bald, hornless, 
blunt, in opposition tobir or birach ; Latin, amor, 
love ; ambient, surrounding, compassing ; mar, 
copulation, also the sea, because including or com- 
passing land ; mamae, a mother, German, mume, 
mumble, mutter ; mummy, mum, muth, all partake 
of the same primary idea. A cat pronounces the 
sound m when it mews; and hence, mialich, a 



214 HISTORY OF THE 

mew, to mew ; by analogy, miapi, not hardy, fond 
of the fire as a cat ; miagan, an infant given to 
crying ; mmnan, an audible yawn, &c. Hierogly- 
phic, a compass, because it surrounds or includes. 
In this sense of enclosing or including, the char- 
acter m will be found to be sometimes sacred, as 
in Amon (A?n-Oin), the name of a deity, also of a 
river in Scotland ; as also Amesbury, Amcotes, 
and many more. 

" Cha teid claidheamh an duille, 
Gus an crunar Righ Seumas !" 



Of the Character N. 

Power, An, En, Na, Ni, fyc. 

We have already treated, at considerable length, 
this sound. One of its departments is to stand for 
the Celtic Ann or Ain, a river ; hence its hiero- 
glyphic sign is an undulation or a wave, thus, 
rsjyj^ny together with two jars supposed to contain 
the sacred water of the Nile ; as also the lion, as 
we have shown under L. N, as a radix, however, 
is not confined to one leading idea any more than 
another sound. We have a practice, when we hear 
any thing new or wonderful, of smacking the tip of 
the tongue against the upper gum : thus, na, na, 
or ne, ne, and followed up, not unfrequently, by 
phala ! phala! as much as to say, off with you ! you 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 215 

tell a story ! is it credible ? after that ! Here nature 
requires the n ; and, hence, perhaps, nai'ea,ohd, 
news, something strange : rceonach, wonderful, 
eccentric, rare. It is remarkable that phala is the 
word translated "wondrous things' in Psalm cxix. 18. 
The term Tobacco, in Celtic, Tombac, has caused 
a deal of discussion, but we have never yet seen it 
explained satisfactorily. The etymologist over- 
looked nature. The practice of smoking some sort 
of substance is very ancient, and by no means 
confined in its origin to the root tobacco, nor yet 
to America. In closing the lips in smoking the 
letter m is formed, and in opening them on a sudden, 
ba ; the t being a formative, if, indeed, it do not 
partake of the divinity Tau ? 

" Leum an stiuir bhar a chlaiginn, 

Le muir-suigh, 's gun sinn ath-chainteach dho." 

Of the Sign or Sound O. 

O will be found to convey the idea of swelling, 
bulk, greatness, obesity, fyc, and, as a consequence, 
a hollow strong voice : as, for instance, mor, big, 
large, huge ; morer, a lord ; moralachd, dignity, 
majesty ; morchuis, pride of ancestry, of wealth, 
&c. ; mor-fhlath, a chief; mor-shar, a hero, a 
leader ; morlanachd, a sort of feudal tax, or statute- 
work exacted by landlords in the Highlands of 
Scotland from their tenants. The sound O, how- 



216 HISTORY OF THE 

ever is not confined to this idea ; it enters naturally 
into <5b ! ob ! or bo / bo / an interjection of terror. 

" H-ugaibh H-ugaibh ob ! ob ! 
Doctair Leodach's biodagair." 

i.e. Ob ! Ob ! beware, beware ! 

Dread Macleod assumes the dirk. — St Kilda Song, 

This is the ideal meaning of the term bocan, a 
bogle, a hobgoblin ; by figure, a tyrant. It is very 
remarkable that Ba! Ba! is the exclamation ren- 
dered properly, great destruction, in Jer. xlvi. 20, 
" Great destruction (^n ^2 ba, ba,) cometh ; it 
cometh from the north." How simple is language in 
its elementary principles ! Again ; orais, or obairt, 
to retch, to throw up, to vomit, expressive of that 
action ; but seek, the vomit of a dog ! Mark how 
faithful to nature ! So in Lev. xviii. 25, — " And 
the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants," where 
the original is the Celtic root &p ka. The Celtic, 
indeed, attends Nature as her shadow. Cronan is 
the term for the croon of a cat when sleeked, as 
also for the croon made by a ship in ploughing the 
liquid main. These have no analogy except in 
imitation, or onomatopoeia. 

Finding ourselves at sea, let us attend for a few 
minutes to the world of waters. Ortddh, a term for 
the long and deep sound produced by the billow T s in 
heaving and in breaking. Maistreadh, for the sound 
produced by two waves meeting and mixing. This 
term is also used for churning in the ancient High- 



CELTTC LANGUAGE. 217 

land mode, because productive of the same sound. 
Slachdraich, expressive of the violent slash of a wave 
against the side of a ship, of which slaisdreadh, and 
sluisdreadh are a variety. Seitrich, expressive of 
the noise made when the wave is spouted back out of 
a cave, by compressed air. These are terms to be 
found in McDonald's poem already referred to ; 
terms which the infants of Psammeticus were not 
likely to be able to invent immured in a bothy in 
Egypt. It is not expected of a mirror to reflect 
more than what is placed before it, nor of the wax 
to convey more than the impress of the seal ; and, 
upon the same principle, a natural language can 
never be formed without going forth to Nature. 

" Ma gheibh sinn uine r'a fhaicinn, 
Bheir sinn fucadh mu seach aira'chlo." 

Of the Character P. 

The letter P is necessarily pronounced in the 
act of pushing. Let us figure a person sitting upon 
a swing, and another preparing to push him ; the 
one about to push confines his breath to gain force, 
his cheeks are now inflated, and the action being 
over, now comes the sound p or pu ; hence put, to 
push so ; put e, push him from you. Similar to a 
swing was the ancient process of producing butter. 
Hasselquist, in his travels (page 159), speaking of 
an encampment of Arabs which he found not far 



218 HISTORY OF THE 

from Tiberias (Tau-Ab-Ar), at the foot of the 
mountain where Christ preached his sermon, 
says, " They made butter in a leather bag, hung 
on three poles erected for the purpose, in the form 
of a cone, and drawn to and fro by women." We 
are now imperceptibly led to the ideal meaning 
of the term puter, butter. " Nam biodh agam 
long phutir" i.e. O for a butter-built ship ! 
Another name for it is im 9 pronounced or supposed 
to be pronounced in the process of inflation, and 
closing the lips before thepwt. In making one's coat 
or vest meet, the organs sometimes assume the same 
puffing form; and hence jowtanich, to button; jp^tan, 
a button ; pwtag, a small piece of wood with a niche 
in the centre, which was the ancient button ; jowtag, 
a little squat fellow ready to puff with fat. The 
mouth itself in this attitude we call pits, and a kiss 
from it, pussag ; whence pus, to wed, to marry; 
from the well-known Eastern practice of joining 
lips instead of, as we now do, hands: the reader 
will observe the change of the accent. Perhaps 
this is the ideal meaning of dubhan, a hook, a 
crook; because it joins or marries objects. It is 
more natural in Arabic, ^vi uui 9 to marry, to 
wed. This is the real root; the ideal meaning 
being snout to snout: the nearer the fountain, the 
purer the stream. The action engenders the 
term. In Exodus xxvi. 32, the root assumes the 
Hebrew termination. " Their hooks (am uuim) 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 219 

shall be of gold;" and again, xxxviii. 28, " He 
made hooks fay) uuini) for the pillars." These 
examples, however, fall more properly under the 
root u. Every action that calls for the puffing 
attitude of the mouth, requires the sound uph or 
pu 9 to express it. In fishing a certain small fish in 
the Highlands of Scotland, they take with them 
boiled potatoes, which they masticate and phr or 
scatter out of their mouth into the sea, in order 
to collect the fish. This action we call proit; the 
very echo of the action — and by analogy, the 
potatoes intended for this purpose are called 
proiteadh. 

" 'Smath a phroite' tu buntata, 
Mach an aite 'mhaorich dhuinn." 

Is this the Irish praty ? The sound />, as now 
treated, naturally blends with Eph or Oph, for- 
merly considered. The ideal meaning is the same ; 
namely, inflation, puffing, &c. The idea extends, 
by analogy, to any thing gibbous, globous, oblong, 
&c; for instance, Prohaist, a term for a gibbous 
or corpulent person ; (the reader will recollect 
Potipherah) and even to mind: for instance, 
uaphar, pride which swells ; Arab, aupher, pride, 
wealth. 

We have by no means exhausted the root; our 
object being merely to submit a fair specimen. 

" 'S taitneach na smuaintean a thriall, 

S' mianach dreach nam bliadhn' a dh'fhalbh." 



220 HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER X. 
Of the Character R. 

Power : Ar, Er, Ir, Or ; or otherwise, Ra, Re, 
Ri, Ro. 

Of all the roots in our alphabet, the sign R pre- 
sents, perhaps, the most numerous offspring. Its 
hieroglyphic is a star, a circle, or a round tower; 
and its power, like all the rest, syllabic and vari- 
able. It is naturally expressive of any rough, 
grating sound, but more especially of vibration ; 
consequently, whether you put the syllabic power 
before or after it, you require to make the tongue 
vibrate against the upper gum in pronouncing it. 
Let us now try the theory of " Ag, Bag, Dag," 
&c, and our ow r n principle, namely, of language 
being based in Nature. First, then, let us put 
our own principle to the test. Ran, the grating, 
vibratory sound produced by a tree in breaking, 
by an oar in rowing, (whence ramh, an oar,) by 
the hinges of a door; ("thoisich na gaid-chuil ri 
/Ymich,") or by an infant in great pain. 

A chariot in rapid motion causeth vibration; and 
hence carbad, a chariot; roh, a wheel; and by 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 221 

analogy, any thing round whatsoever, from a 
rosary to the round tower which gave name to 
Rome; rola, a roll; ro, a star; re, the sun, 
moon; also the blue field in which they move; 
and by analogy, relen, level ground, and nles, 
bowling. The stars vibrate transcendently in a 
frosty night; and hence, again, in a consequential 
sense, rohadh, frost. JReul and rin&g are terms 
equally familiar with ro or re for a star; but these, 
it would appear, embrace a cabalistic sense, like 
r^bastan, a sea-captain, a perfect astronomer. We 
are now led to the term in Job iii. 7, which has 
defied all translators, because they overlooked the 
Celtic, the language in which that sublimest of 
poems is written, namely, yr\ rng. Now, ask the 
most illiterate Celt the meaning of the term renag, 
and he will tell you it means a star; but our 
translators have it " joyful voice." " Let that 
night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein." 
Parkhurst takes up the idea to the full, when he 
renders the term "vibration of light:" but why 
use circumlocution ? why not say Renag ? Again, 
npheid, the reed of a musical instrument ; a bag- 
pipe for instance, because producing sound by 
vibration: nh, or nth, to run, run a race; because 
in the act the feet seem to vibrate : reis, a race ; 
also, by analogy, mis, a span, because resembling 
the feet of a horse in running a race ; also an inclina- 
tion forward, like the prow of a ship : whence ros, 



222 history or the 

Heb. ttfSn rash, a head, ahead-land, the beginning; 
radharc, sight, vision; rosg, the hair upon the 
eye-lid ; rideis, a promiscuous running of children 
in play; rotach, to be spattered with mud, the 
consequence of running recklessly through water and 
mire. Poetically, ngille, or nhgille, a leg, a foot, 
a foot-man, a runner. So Genesis viii. 9, " But 
the dove found no rest for (bin ^gl) the sole of her 
foot." This is rather paraphrastic. It is over- 
stepping the original, although not the idea. So 
Genesis xviii. 4, " Let a little water, I pray you, 
be fetched, and wash your (n^bm rglirri) feet:" 
compare 1 Samuel xvii. 6, and 2 Samuel viii. 9. 
We come now to have a clearer conception of the 
text. " Where thou sowest thy seed, and waterest 
it with thy (bm ^gl) foot." Deuteronomy xi. 10. 
The text is in the singular, and conveys the idea, 
primarily, of a foot or leg ; or secondarily, a foot- 
man or servant. It is a well-known custom in the 
East, to raise up barrels of water from deep wells 
with the foot, much in the manner of knife-grinders 
here, in order to irrigate their parched gardens. 
This was troublesome ; and therefore, by way of 
encouragement to the people of Israel, they were 
told beforehand the difference, in this respect, be- 
tween Egypt and Palestine. " The land whither 
ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, 
and drinketh water of the rain of heaven." Ifo'stal, 
a kind of plough, having only a sharp coulter. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 223 

employed, where the soil is tough, to draw a furrow 
before the large plough, which, without this expe 
dient, would never be able to get on. The vibration 
caused by it in tearing up the stubborn fibres may be 
heard at a considerable distance ; hence the name : 
rtftan, a rat, because its feetmove so fast in running, 
that they really suggest the idea of vibration. Stimr, 
a rudder ; and, by figure of speech, to guide. The 
ancient rudder, according to Herodotus, was a 
rope with a stone fastened to the end of it, and in 
this way dragged by the boat in her progress down 
the rapid rivers of the East, without which she 
would have been whirled against the bank. To 
give his own words : — 

" When they go with the current, they throw from the 
head of the vessel a hurdle made of tamarisk, fastened to- 
gether with reeds. They have also a perforated stone of the 
weight of two talents : this is let fall at the stern, secured by 
rope. . . . The stone at the stern regulates the motion." 

A rope or cable so placed is continually vibrating; 
and it is remarkable how the term embraces both 
the gushing sound of the water in s 9 and also that 
of vibration in r ! AStiuir, figuratively, the long 
arched feathers in the tail of a chanticleer ; also, 
the act of keeping a pot from running over by 
means of a ladle or spirtle; to steer a boat, to 
advise well, &c. : rac, a natural sound in clearing 
the throat after any thing bitter ; hence, racadal, a 
well-known bitter herb, the horse-raddish : srad, a 



224 HISTORY OF THE 

spark from the vibratory sudden sound produced by 
it: gradan or greadan, the act of preparing grain by 
setting fire to it in straw, from the sparkling vibrat- 
ing noise produced ! We are not certain, indeed, 
but trees have received their several names in 
Celtic from their peculiarities in burning. Darach, 
the oak, produces a sparkling vibratory sound ; 
but not so gms, or gzwsach, fir; it emits, not 
sparks, but hissing steam, and matter resembling 
turpentine : the thorn-tree kicks much like the oak 
in burning ; whence, perhaps, its name, drean. 

In employing a flint to write upon a softer stone 
or upon glass, perhaps the first pen ever employed, 
we have a vibrating sound ; hence spor, a flint, 
and scnbh, to write. Moses gives this root 
faithfully, knowing each character to be syllabic in 
power, thus: n*W spr ; but the vowel-suppliers 
have ruined it by introducing an e, thus : " /Seper." 
So Exodus xxxiv. 27, " write (spr) thou these 
things." Was it with pen and ink ? No : for 
the next verse says, " And he wrote upon the 
tables (namely, of stone) the words of the cove- 
nant ; the ten commandments." It came progres- 
sively, it is true, to mean literal writing, and by 
figure, to count, number, to commemorate, a book, 
learning, &c. And sacred things being thus com- 
memorated, the term transitively came to be itself 
sacred. The hieroglyphic for J? is a round tower 
pointing to heaven, the aurery or atlas of the 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 225 

PAenicians, and therefore a sacred letter. It may 
be read dr, er, ro, or re. This is the idea, as we 
have already remarked, in the names Erin, Arin. 
Arab) Orus 3 &c. 

In the second place, let us try " Ag, Bag, 
Dag." Spo/\ We are foiled in the very outset ! 
Spor cannot be a derivative of either. 

M Cha do theich ar n' Athraiche riarab ! 
'Fheara ! leanaaih dian an lor_ 

Of the Character S. 
Power : Es or Se, $c. 

The proper place for the sound S in the alphabet 
of Nature, is to express a hissing, gushing, or 
whizzing sound : for instance, the hiss of a species 
of serpent, the gushing of water, or the whiz of a 
bird or a switch in cleaving the air. Let the 
Celtic scholar exercise his memory for a little, and 
he will be able to produce not a few examples. 
May we be allowed to instance two or three? 
Slap, the tail of a cow, from the hissing sound it 
produces in driving away flies ; siap, a fly itself. 
(Is this the ideal meaning of Baalc^iub, or Beel- 
zebub, the god of flies ?) &opadh 3 a mode of fish- 
ing, in which the line is swung round the head and 
sent back again every time the feather is brought 
to the rock or bank, because producing this sound: 
es > a cascade, a waterfall, a stream. The sound 

k 2 



226 HISTORY OF THE 

S, however, be it observed, is not confined to 
onomatopeeia. It also enters naturally into the 
idea of inspiration, absorption, &c. : for instance, in 
absorbing, inflating, or collapsing, we necessarily 
produce the sound sic, in drawing in the breath 
forcibly; whence siiffh, to inspire, draw in the breath, 
collapse : " sugh t-anail" draw in thy breath ; 
suan, sowens or any thing potable, because drawn 
up by suction ; s#gan, - a sand-pit, from its pro- 
perty of absorbing, or imbibing; s%ag, the bloom 
of clover, so called from its containing a honeyed 
juice which we suok; s%h, juice, anything to be 
drawn in with the breath ; swgh, a heaving billow, 
because swelling itself by absorption ; swgan, a 
thick rope made of twisted straw, because of the 
quantity it absorbs. We apply it figuratively 
to the effect of the sun in withering bodies. The 
English suck, action, syphon, &c, are derivatives. 
The sound S assumes a new idea again in seot, 
or shed, the bottom, the buttocks ; seotaire, a lazy 
person or beast, to whom his posteriors seem a 
burden. So Heb. " And he cut off their garments, 
even to their (ntp st) buttocks." And again, Isaiah 
xx. 4, " With their buttocks (nttf st) uncovered." 
We are now led imperceptibly to the primary idea 
of what has been called creature- worship. " All 
the congregation worshipped Jehovah and the 
king" 1 Chron. xxix. 20. And again, Adonijah 
bowed himself to king Solomon, 1 Kings i. 53. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 227 

The original in both places is the Celtic seot; in 
Hebrew rw st; and the idea is to bow, or shoot 
back the seot. The proper term for worship is 
aoradh, aur&dh, or aradh, and always to be under- 
stood primarily in an oracular sense. We have 
submitted in another place, that the hieroglyphic 
for the character S is a man ; and hence mutually 
called Es, or Esh, or rapidly, Se. In an oracular 
sense, therefore, every hero represented upon our 
globe may be called Esh : for instance, the half- 
man, half-horse, Prs-Esh, softened Perseus, the 
deity of the Persians; whence their appellation: 
or read downwards, Esh-Prs, softened H-Esperes. 
Thus the student may decipher all the notions of 
antiquity by a reference to our frontispiece. For 
example: in the Terrier sitting upon the equator, 
he will see Aug, Oug, or Og; as also Tau, 
Taut, Teut : and in canis major, Cou, Cau or 
Cu. Join him to a human figure, and you have 
Aug-Aug-Esh, softened Ogyges ; Cau-Cou-Esh, 
softened Carcases, or shortened Cu-Esh or Esh- 
Cii, : add the lion, or sun, and the serpent, and 
you have Esculap : transpose your figures, and 
you have Pelescu or Pelesci. 

" A Mhadainn ! crath do cheann san Ear, 
'S eirich a' Ghrian le cuach-fholt ciuin." 



228 HISTORY OF THE 

Of the Character T. 

Power: Et, At, Te, Ti, Ta, Sfc. 

Of this letter we have treated under D, it being 
an aspiration of that letter, and expressive of 
tension, &c. We have also reviewed it as an 
oracular character in connexion with Tau, the 
barker, and the Nilotic cross, consequently as 
an iijeffable character. T, oracularly used, may 
mean any one whatever of the divinities, and any 
one of the rest may, in like manner, be substituted 
for it, being all the same in substance, and equal 
in power : but, radically viewed, the T belongs 
peculiarly to the yelp of the cur; and, by convention, 
to the pole to which he was fixed — to the Dog- 
star; and, may we not venture to add, to the 
All-Bounteous Cause — the giver of all good! Cu, 
Cou, Oph, Ob, An, Aish, Serp, Phet, are equi- 
valent. The word Tot, Bruce tells us, is still 
employed in Abyssinia, (Aub-Esh-In), to denote 
an idol; but let the reader mark, " A naked figure 
of a man is not a Tot ; but if he have the head of 
a dog, or a serpent, instead of a human head, he 
becomes a Tot."* Herein Abyssinia and Mull 

* Vol. i. p. 411. Deane gives a plate of an Indian (p. 307) 
with a star on his left breast, and a serpent on the centre of 
his naked body. We would call this native indifferently 
Ar-Aub, Ab~Ar, &c. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 229 

meet: the famous witch of Mull being Tot, or 
Totag. The Shangala, a race of negroes on the 
northern frontier of Abyssinia, worship to this day 
cruciform trees, serpents, and the heavenly host, 
as do the Agazi (Aug-Esh), a tribe of Ethiopian 
shepherds dwelling in the mountains H-Ab-Ab, 
which term is but a reduplication of the serpent 
Aub, as Fife is of Eph, and, by analogy, of those 
who wore on their bodies the mark of that 
reptile : and again, of power, puissance, terror, 
&c. The Scriptures are pretty much sprinkled with 
oracular terms, but translators overlooking this 
key, have shown themselves not unlike the people 
at Babel, as the following, from the late Professor 
Wilson's Elements of Hebrew Grammar will suffi- 
ciently show, viz. : 

Observations on the 31st and 32d Verses of the 
38th Chapter of the Book of Job. 

" The interpretation of these verses is exceeding! y various 
in all the versions, whether ancient or modern ; and the 
commentators differ much in their opinions respecting the 
true sense. The three words nft*0 cime, Vd2 cesil, and vjy 
osh or &;>^ oish, are used in the ninth chapter of this same 
book, and 9th verse, but in an inverted order, viz., osh, cesil, 
cime, and rendered by the Septuagint, or Greek version, 
lixuo^a jcki \<rtfi£ov xou agxrougov ; the Pleiades, the Evening 
Star, and Arcturus.* 

* The largest and most remarkable star in the constellation 
of the Bear. 



230 HISTORY OF THE 

" By the Vulgate, ' Qui facit Areturum, et Oriona, et 
Hyades, et interiora Austri :' Who maketh Arcturus, and 
Orion, and the Hyades, and the interior parts of the south ; 
i.e. the constellations of the southern hemisphere. 

" In the first, or Greek translation, 
Osh is the Pleiades, • 

Cesil is the Evening Star, and 
Cime is Arcturus. 

" In the second, or Vulgate, 
Osh is Arcturus, 
Cesil is Orion, and 
Cime is the Hyades. 

'* Our English version of verse 9th, ' Which maketh Arc- 
turus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south,' 
nearly imitating the Vulgate. 

" In Amos v. 8, our version has ' Seek him that maketh the 
Seven Stars and Orion.' Heb. That maketh Cime and Cesil; 
which words, it is very remarkable, the Septuagint does not 
translate at all. Aquilas renders Agxrovgov %cu w^ava, Arcturus 
and Orion ; and Symmachus, nxuaas xai a<rr^a } the Pleiades 
and the Stars. 

" The Vulgate, Arcturus, and Orion. 

" The Septuagint translates the above-mentioned 31st and 
32d verses of the 28th chapter in this manner : 

" ' Canst thou fasten the band of the Pleiades (Cime), or 
open the inclosure, the lock of Orion ? (Cesil.) 

" f Canst thou display ^«Z > ov^u& (Mazuroth) in his season, and 
lead on the Evening Star (Oish) with his flowing rays?' 
Lit. hair. 

" The Vulgate — * Canst thou join together the sparkling 
stars of the Pleiades (Cime), or break the circle, i.e. disturb 
the revolution of Arcturus (Cesil) ? Canst thou bring forth 
Lucifer, i.e. the Morning Star (Heb. Mazuroth) at his time ; 
or make the Evening Star (Oish) rise on the sons of the 
earth ? 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 231 

M Notwithstanding this strange intermixture, it would appear, 
in general, that all the interpreters believed, that these names, 
designed either some constellations, or some very bright stars 
that had long attracted the attention of mankind : That Cime 
is most frequently translated the Pleiades, and Cesil, Orion : 
That Osh or Oish is sometimes said to be the Pleiades, 
sometimes the Evening- Star, and sometimes, or most fre- 
quently, Arcturus. 

" With respect to Mazuroth, not translated by the Seventy, 
but converted into Greek letters, pu^ovguQ* Chrysostom, in 
his Commentaries, says, that the word means the systems of 
the stars or constellations that appear in the zodiac, or that 
it is a Hebrew term which signifies the Dog Star. 

t( It is well known, that in different regions of the earth, 
the appearance of certain stars or constellations, before sun- 
rise, or after sunset, marks the distinction of seasons, and 
regulates the labours of the husbandman. The motions and 
revolutions of these luminaries, conducted by general laws, in 
due order and arrangement, loudly proclaim the wisdom and 
goodness of their Omnipotent Author, and lead all pious 
minds to cultivate a sense of their continual dependance upon 
God, for all the enjoyments of life." 

This seeming confusion, after all, is unimportant 
when we consider that the terms are merely astro- 
nomical distinctions. Cimah is the lobster. 



* The root is probably -^ azr (rather in Ais-Or-At?) to 
bind, encompass, surround. The zodiac surrounds the earth 
as it were with a broad belt. 



232 HISTORY OF THE 



Of the Character U. 

We are now arrived- at the eighteenth and last 
character or sound in the Celtic alphabet. Its 
power is that of oo in booth ; the mechanical form 
not unlike that of o long, but with a greater pro- 
trusion of the lips. The mouth, in this attitude, 
necessarily produces the sound il, or u ; hence, as 
formerly remarked, pits, the mouth, thus snouted 
and fluted ; jowsag, a kiss, also a slap on the mouth ; 
jowsadh, marriage; " Ged nach faigh mi thu rid' 
phusadh gur h-e mo run a bhi mar riut." C-wjoair, 
a joiner, auniter, a cooper : dwan, a hook; dwan, 
a rhyme, because in rhyme sounds are made to 
link or join. The sound u is also natural in point- 
ing to a second party in contradistinction to mi, 
myself; hence, tu, thou, emphatically 'wsa, thou, 
you. We have now seen the natural use of the 
vowels : A expresses simple consent or being ; E 
points upwards; / downwards; O short, towards 
one's self ; and U towards a second party ; but we 
have said nothing of diphthongs. A diphthong 
means two simple sounds joined ; without which a 
certain action or sound cannot be properly echoed 
or reflected. 

When a horse, for example, is about to strike, 
the back is directed towards the object to be 
mauled, and, as the signal to onset, the wild note 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 233 

ai is uttered. This sound no simple vowel can 
express, and hence the propriety of joining two. 
Is this note the ideal meaning, by analogy, of the 
terms az'steal, turbulence; tf/leas, mischief ; ameart, 
discord, strife; amgidh, wicked; tfzngealas, wicked- 
ness ; a/bhiser, a nefarious person, the devil ; ail 9 
a mare's hot season, because peculiarly abounding 
with this note during the sham battles, which most 
country people must have witnessed? The note 
of a sailor in ho/sing a sail requires io, and hence, 
by transposition, ho/se, as turn is of the watch- 
word, to row r , whence zzmair, row. There is, 
again, an expression of terror like bo I bo ! very 
frequently used in some districts, namely, h-ua ! 
h-ua! It is put into the mouths of Cyclops, and 
all sorts of giants on coming home to their caves, 
like Polypheme, and smelling strangers : thus — 

" HI, h-ua, huagaich, 

Tha boladh an Arbhalich a so." 

Hence, perhaps, wamhas, terror, horror ; ua or 
ttamh, a cave ; waigh, the grave : perhaps because 
sepultures of old were caves. Abraham purchased 
the cave of Mach Pelah for this purpose. 

The reader may probably be surprised at the 
paucity of our characters. It is a principle recog- 
nised by all philologists, that the shorter the lan- 
guage the more primitive: upon the same principle, 
the shortness of a simple term argues its superior 



234 HISTORY OF THE 

claim to antiquity. The same rule must hold 
true with regard to the number of letters in a 
language ; and herein the Celtic, as well as in 
other characteristics, carries the boon of antiquity. 
The English has 26 letters ; the French, 23 ; the 
Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Samaritan, each 
22; the Arabic, 28; the Persian, 31; the Turk- 
ish, 33 ; the Georgian, 36 ; the Coptic, 32 ; the 
Muscovite, 41; the Greek, 24; the Latin, 22; 
the Sclavonic, 27 ; the Dutch, 26 ; the Spanish, 
27 : the Italian, 20 ; the Ethiopic and Tartarian, 
each 202; the Bramins, 19; the Celtic, with her 
immediate relations, only 18 ! Of these same, 
three at least are not primitives. B may be put 
down as a mutation of P ; D, a mutation of T; 
and G, a mutation of C. These sub-primitives 
arose from rapid pronunciation and love of ease, 
men being determined not to take too much pains 
to speak, when there was no call for it, — language, 
in short, softened with society; and upon this 
ground again we stand up for the Celtic, as being 
shortest, most energetic, and least emasculated ! 

We have now exemplified the power and 
natural station of all our characters, which brings 
us to the conclusion; and here we would express 
a hope, that however rash the step may have 
been at one time thought, that we, a mere atom 
in the grand system, should attempt a task so 
difficult — so nice — the philologist and the anti- 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 235 

quary, upon whose opinion alone we put value, 
will now proclaim us triumphant. How the caviller 
can get over the principia^ the author cannot per- 
ceive. The Truth continually surrounds him, like 
the element of air ; yes, and like the element of 
air, too, delicate, nice, and untangible to vulgar 
sensation. 

" Let such approach this consecrated land 
As pass in peace along the magic waste ; 
But spare its relics — let no busy hand 
Deface the scene, already how defaced ! " 



236 HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER XL 



" The lofty scenes around our sires recall, 
Fierce in the field and generous in the hall j 
The mountain-crag, the stream and waving tree, 
Breathe forth some proud and glorious history 1" 



CONCLUSION. 

THE CELTIC DECLARED OF NATURAL ORIGIN A SKETCH 

OF THE CELTIC TRIBES, THEIR ORIGIN AND EMIGRA- 
TIONS, FROM CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON AND EDWARD 
DA VIES SEVERAL DIALECTS OF THE CELTIC COM- 
PARED REMARKS THEREON BY THE AUTHOR HINTS 

WITH REGARD TO THE HEATHEN NATIONS, &C, &C. 

We have now submitted " The History of the 
Celtic Language " o\\ at least, furnished the student 
with a key to its more minute history, of which, if 
he make proper use, every philological difficulty 
will fly open before him. It has been properly 
remarked that as Geography is the finger, and 
Chronology the eye, so Etymology is the tongue 
of Antiquity, " the surest mark by which to 
discover the origin of nations." It is upon this 
principle our book begs to lay claim to the term 
History, Upon a review of our humble but pleasant 
labour, we are, in conclusion, induced to offer a 
few practical remarks : and, 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 237 

In the first place. If it should be denied that 
we, have proved the Adamic origin of the Celtic, 
it is undeniable that we have proved the Natural 
origin of it, and certainly Nature was prior to 
Adam. 

To deny the Celtic the era which we have 
allowed it in our outset, bespeaks want of consider* 
ation. If language be, as it is now found to be, a 
child of Nature, it may be presumed that every 
nation now inhabiting our globe speaks, to some 
extent, the language of the first human pair : the 
difference being, that while most nations allowed 
the child to run wild — to indulge in luxury and 
dress, to the deforming of his visage and the ruining 
of his constitution, the Celtic tribe have kept him 
within themselves — pure and uncontaminated ; so 
much so that he is identical in all stages, from 
the child to the promising youth — from youth to 
athletic manhood — and from the man, full-grown, 
and full of vigour, to stooping grey age as now. 

That the Gael, however, may not be altogether 
disappointed in finding our work called a History, 
we shall submit the following remarks from a 
valuable work by Christopher Anderson, making 
no remarks of our own, but leaving the student to 
bring his knowledge now of the Cabalistic language 
to bear upon the appellatives therein contained. 

" Among the learned men who have studied the subject of 
European antiquities, there seems to be but one opinion with 



238 HISTORY OF THE 

regard to the quarter from whence the great body of her 
population came. They all profess to discover a rolling tide 
proceeding from the east, — wave following after wave, — the 
weaker giving way to, or pushed forward before, the more 
powerful; and though to point out the abode of all the 
Nomade tribes in given periods may be beyond the power of 
human research, yet writers of the most opposite opinions 
agree in regarding the most westerly as the most primitive or 
ancient nations. First in the possession of the soil, at the 
very dawn of history we see them first disturbed, and never 
having been entirely destroyed, remnants of them still remain. 
Without any discordance of sentiment, we may advance at 
least one step farther. The indications of three distinct and 
successive populations are generally recognised by all the 
best authorities — two pervading the western and northern 
regions of Europe, and the third its eastern frontiers. These 
three, according to various authors, are the Celtse, the Goths 
or Scythians, and the Sclavonians ; or the Celtse, the Teu- 
tones, and the Sauramatse of Dr Murray. Without multiply- 
ing authorities, or proceeding farther back, it may be remarked, 
that Dr Percy, the bishop of Dromore, in the year 1770, 
distinctly marked two of these — the Celtic and the Gothic,— 
a distinction recognised by Mr Pinkerton, notwithstanding 
his opinions respecting the former. To these the third is now 
generally added, the Sarmatian. Other nations more recently 
entered, but these are the main sources of the ancient Euro- 
pean population. It is to the first of these three, confessedly 
the most w r estern division of this great European family, that 
our attention is here directed. 

*' Upon opening the map of Herodotus by Major Rennel, 
we find the Cynetae and Iberi on the western shores of 
Europe, and immediately behind the former at least, the 
Celtse. The repeated assurances of Herodotus, that, although 
in his time the Celts had spread from the Danube to the 
Pillars of Hercules, there was another nation still farther 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 239 

west, called the Cynetae or Cynessii, accounts for this distri- 
bution on the map. ' These Celtae are found beyond the 
Columns of Hercules ; they border on the Cynesians, the 
most remote of all the nations who inhabit the western parts 
of Europe ;' and, referring again to the Celtae, he adds, — 
s who, except the Cynetae, are the most remote inhabitants in 
the west of Europe.'* Strabo, when referring to the Canta- 
brians, mentions the * Cantabri Conisci.'f Festus Avienus, 
in the beginning of the fifth century, or about 870 years later 
than Herodotus, notices the Cynestes, as a people inhabiting 
the border of Spain and Portugal. J In many later writers 
we read of those who are called the Cunei, and in the Welsh 
triads we meet with a people denominated the Cynet. 
Modern authors have not entirely overlooked this ancient 
and primitive race. ' Beyond the Celtic hordes,' says Towns- 
end, e in the utmost extremities of Europe, towards the setting 
sun, the Cynetae (Kvwirat) either fed their flocks, or more 
probably were to be numbered among the hunting tribes. § 
' Herodotus,' says Mr Sharon Turner, * places a people, whom 
he calls Cunesioi, beyond the Celts.'|| In the history of 
European languages by Dr Murray, while he ranks the native 
Irish under the general term of Celtae, he uniformly speaks 
of them as the most primitive division — the original stem 
which had penetrated in the earliest ages into the west of 
Europe. 

" But the Iberi as well as the Cynetae are placed by Hero- 
dotus on the western shores of Europe. Now Dionysius 
Periegetes (verse 281), about the commencement of the 
Christian era, mentions them in the same position : — 

* Herod. Euterpe, 33. Melpom. 49. 

f Strabo, lib. III. p. 162. Ed. Paris, 1620. 

% Ora Maritima, 200. 

§ Townsend's Character of Moses, &c. vol. II. p. 62. 

|| Hist, of Anglo-Saxons, 3d ed„ vol. I. p. 40. 



240 HISTORY OF THE 

1 On Europe's farthest western border dwell 
Th' Iberians, who in warlike might excel.' 

And Strabo, in his description of Gaul, confirms the statement 
of Herodotus, that the Iberians were a separate nation from 
the Celts. Speaking of the inhabitants of Gaul, seemingly 
with reference to the account which Julius Caesar had given 
of them half a century before, he says, ' Some have divided 
them into three portions, denominated Aquitani, Belgae, and 
Celtse ; but the Aquitani differ from the rest entirely, not 
only in language but in person, and resemble the Iberi more 
than the Celtse. As for the others, their appearance is 
Celtic ; their language is not wholly the same, but in some 
respects varies a little ; in government and manners they are 
nearly alike.'* The other inhabitants of Gaul, here con- 
trasted with the Aquitani, seems to evince that Gaul as well 
as Spain was anciently occupied by people of two distinct 
nations, of which the more eastern were the Celtae, the more 
western the Iberi and Cynetae. 

" With regard to Britain, Caesar affirms, that ' its interior 
part was inhabited by those who were immemorially natives 
of the island, but the maritime part by those who had passed 
thither from the Belgae, intent on predatory hostilities.'f 
Tacitus, a century later, says, that those who dwelt ' nearest 
to the Gauls resembled them, 1 but that e the brown com- 
plexions and curling hair of the Silures intimated that the 
ancient Iberians had passed over from Spain, and had occu- 
pied that part of Britain.';): The Iberians, however, had 
certainly stretched into Aquitain (according to Pliny formerly 

* Strabo, lib. IV. p. 319. See Greatheed's Inquiries 
respecting the Origin of the Inhabitants of the British Isles. 
Archaeologia, vol. XVI. part I. p. 98. 

f De Bello Gallico, lib. V. cap. 12. 

J Vita Agricolae. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 241 

called Arraorica), and it is possible that the migration now 
referred to, might be from Gaul rather than Spain. 

" The connexion between the early inhabitants of Ire- 
land and those of Britain will be again adverted to ; though 
here we may observe, that, notwithstanding the fables with 
which it has been intermingled, the Irish tradition, which 
states their ancestors to have come from Spain, appears worthy 
of credit. Even the sceptical may admit this as likely to 
account for part of its inhabitants, as it is not inconsistent 
with the certainty that there were other immigrations. 

* In giving these brief and imperfect notices of the primitive 
populations, it seemed expedient not to overlook the denomi- 
nations given to the most western, although they are by most 
writers only glanced at and then dismissed, or lost in the 
general term of Celtic. Though in the present stage of 
inquiry into the original populations of Britain, and the 
western shores of the European continent, some will hesitate 
to admit the entire theory of Mr Greatheed in the Archaeologia, 
it is at least possible that the scattered rays of evidence may 
even yet lead to the conclusion, not only that the people now 
denominated Native Irish, being the farthest west now, were 
the farthest west then, but that, sprung from the most primi- 
tive division of the Celtae, they may be traced as descendants 
of the ancient Iberi or Cynetse, if these were not in fact one 
people, speaking, it is probable, kindred dialects. Granting, 
however, that these terms were dropped, and that the Irish 
are to be considered as a branch of the great Celtic family 
we now briefly notice the light in which they have been thus 
regarded. 

" In taking a view of the original, or at least the ancient 
population of Europe, Dr Murray gives a place to the Native 
Irish, which he carefully preserves throughout both of his 
volumes. ' The primary tribes of Europe are,' he says, * as 
is generally known, 1st, the Celtse, ancestors of the Irish ; 2d, 
The Cymri, progenitors of the Welsh, Cornish, and Armo- 

L 



242 HISTORY OF THE 

ricans.' — ' In the west of Gaul, and in Britain, there is 
evidence to presume that the greater part of the population 
consisted of that division of the Celtic race whose posterity 
now possesses the name of Cymri ;* but in Ireland the popu- 
lation was wholly Celtic, of that original stem which had 
penetrated in the earliest ages into Gaul, Spain, and the 
British Isles.' — c The ancestors of the Cymri were of Celtic 
origin, but they had remained nearer to the east, in the heart 
of Europe, while their kindred reached the Atlantic ocean. 
Savage war and emigration at length drove the Cymri before 
the Teutones into the west, whence they expelled the Celtae, 
and took possession of Gaul and Britain.' — Again he says, — 
' The allies of the German Cimbri and Teutones were not 
Celts of the Irish division. That primitive race had been 
expelled from the continent, a few tribes only excepted, before 
the dawn of history.' 

" The primitive populations of Europe have, for several 
generations, formed a standing subject of controversy, to 
which, unquestionably, the confounding of generic with con- 
federative terms, and the want of accurate acquaintance with 
the languages spoken, have contributed. At least it is 
surprising to see the confidence which has been maintained by 
some who had not thought it to be essential that they should 
first thoroughly investigate the colloquial dialects. If lan- 
guages are admitted to a certain extent to be the pedigree 
of nations, the forlorn hope of greater unanimity seems to rest 
on such investigations, provided they are conducted with due 
patience and candour. Some languages, it is true, have 
undergone great changes, and words remaining have entirely 
changed their meaning ; though, after all, language is one of 
the most enduring and unchangeable things with which we are 

* This title, borne by the present Welsh, is not very 
ancient ; nor was it given to their ancestors in Gaul or 
Britain in the time of Caesar.— Murray, vol. II. p. 315. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 243 

acquainted, both with regard to its terms and even its very 
tones or accent. The productions of the soil may, in many 
instances, be torn up and exported, or the manners and 
customs of a people may so change, that the relics which 
remain shall baffle the severest scrutiny ; but not so their 
language : this remains and descends like their family-features, 
and whether neglected or proscribed, long survives all such 
treatment. If, in addition to this quality of endurance, the 
changes to which any language has been exposed, should be 
found in general to have in fact only obeyed a law, then the 
investigation becomes, not only more interesting and precise, 
but the access to the antiquity of nations by this line is less 
affected by the lapse of time than that of any other with which 
we are acquainted. A different opinion indeed has been 
entertained by some, and we do not forget the idea of 
Horace : 

"As when the forest with the bending year 

First sheds the leaves which earliest appear, 

So an old race of words maturely dies, 

And some, new born, in youth and vigour rise ; 

Many shall rise that now forgotten lie, 

Others in present credit soon shall die, 

If custom will, whose arhitrary sway, 

Words, and the forms of language, must obey." 

But a simile, however beautiful, is no argument, and better 
philologists have entertained a very different opinion from the 
poet in this instance. ' I am now convinced,' said the late 
Dr Murray, ' that the wildest and most irregular operations 
of change in every language obey an analogy which, when it 
is discovered, explains the anomaly ; and that, as is common 
in the study of all progressive knowledge, a view of the 
gradual (and progressive) history of human speech, in any 
considerable portion of the world, leads directly to a scientific 
acquaintance with its principles, which may be of the highest 
use in illustrating obsolete dialects, in preserving the purity 



244 HISTORY OF THE 

of our own, in facilitating the intercourse of any one nation 
with all others, and in completing the moral topography of 
the globe.'* 

" But whatever may be the opinions formed of these ancient 
tribes, — whether the Irish and the Scots Highlanders are to 
be denominated Cynesian, Iberian, or ancient Celtic ; and 
the Welsh, Cornish, and Armorican are to be distinguished as 
Cymri or Cymraic Gauls ; and the inhabitants of Beam and 
the Lower Pyrenees, who speak the Basque, are to be asso- 



* As an illustration of the necessity of attention to the 
languages spoken, as far as this is practicable, I may notice a 
degree of discordance between the assertions of two authors, 
which this attention is alone likely to remove. In referring 
to the progress of emigration westward, — ( There can be little 
doubt,' observes Dr Murray, ' that it proceeded in this order ; 
first, the Celtse, by the way of the Euxine, and along the 
Danube into Gaul ; next, the Cymri in the rear of them, and 
originally part of them, though changed in point of language 
by long separation. At length the Cymri occupied Gaul and 
the adjoining countries ; but they were soon followed by the 
Teutonic nations, whom they for a time resisted ably, and 
even invaded in their territories beyond the Danube. The 
Cymraig Gauls carried their arms along the Danube into 
Illyricum and Dalmatia ; they took possession of the Alps, 
and colonized the whole north of Italy.' — Vol. II. pp. 40, 41. 
Dr Pritchard, on the other hand, says, — * It is remarkable 
that it is with the Irish dialect of the Celtic that the barbarous 
portion of the Latin coincides. The Celtic people, therefore, 
who inhabited Italy in early times, were akin to the Irish 
Celts, and not to the Britons or Celtic Gauls,' — Vol. II. 
p. 130. At the same time, it may be observed, that when Dr 
Murray speaks of the Irish having left the continent, he, as 
already quoted, says, ' a few tribes only excepted.'' 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 245 

dated with either, or, more anciently, with both, — or whether 
the whole continue to fall under the general denomination of 
Celtic, describing the difference between them by a more 
accurate analysis of their several dialects ; still there is so 
much of affinity, that the whole must be regarded as the 
children of one common parent stock." 

Of these remarks of Anderson, the following 
from the "Researches 9 of the Rev. Edward Davies 
is happily corroborative, viz, : — 

" As the Japetidce divided the Isles of the Gentiles, in their 
lands, after their families, each of those families must have 
known its portion, to which it could plead a just claim. — Upon 
the arrival of the Conian or Kynetian family in Europe, they 
found the portion of Javan lying to the south, and reaching 
to the mountains of Thrace. Riphath was pitching his tents 
on the north of the Danube, about the Carpathian hills. One 
branch of Togarmah's family seating itself on the banks of the 
Borysthenes (the nurse of Targitaus, or Thor-Gut, their 
great ancestor,) and beginning to possess the intermediate 
region. 

" The family of Ashhenaz did not find, in this neighbour- 
hood, that ample patrimony which they could retain in peace, 
and leave to their children for ever. Their portion lay far 
to the west, and the way, as yet, was open for them to go in 
search of it. Part of them accordingly did set out upon that 
expedition. After they had reached their destined acquisitions, 
they still retained their generic name, for Herodotus* places 
the Cynetae in the western extremities of Europe, beyond the 
Celtae. As the Danube rises in the country of the Celta, 
viewed by him, it is probable that he means the Eastern 
Gauls ; we must therefore look for his Cyneta, amongst the 
western branches of the Celtce, 

*L. IV. 49. 



246 HISTORY OF THE 

" The name is acknowledged by the ancient Britons. 

" Taliesin, a bard of the 6th century, in a poem which he 
addresses to Urien, prince of Reged, calls his countrymen 
Cyn-wys, or Echen Gynwys — the nation of the Cyn-men — 
i.e. the Dog-men, 

" Aneurim, Taliesin's contemporary, in the conclusion of 
his Gododin, distributes the Celtse of the British Islands into 
* Cynt, a Gwiddil, a Phrydin.' The Cynt, the Irish, and 
the North Britons, making the Cynt or Cynet, the first of the 
Celtic families. Amongst our old British kings we find 
Cyndav, Cynetav, &c. 

" From the descendants then of Ashkenaz, in my opinion, 
sprung the original Celtce of the west, who anciently possessed 
the whole of Gaul, the islands of Britain, part of Germany, 
and part of Spain. 

(t But a considerable body of this people did not leave their 
Eastern possessions in peace. After the removal of the 
Centimani, these remains of the Celtse were distinguished by 
the name of Titans. They had perhaps been joined by the 
real Titanian Celta, Celto-Scythce, or those branches of the 
Celtic family who had assisted in building the tower of Babel, 
and had been compelled, at the dispersion, to follow their 
brethren. They seem to have mustered a formidable power 
against those who deemed themselves the lawful possessors of 
Asia Propria, of Thrace and of Macedon.* 



* It was in the character of a Titan that Japetus € married 
Asia/ or that, in other words, a branch of his family took 
possession of the small district, anciently known by that name, 
which comprehended little more than Phrygia, and a part of 
Lydia. The first-born son of this marriage was Atlas, or 
the eldest branch of the family were Atlantes. 

Atlas was the general of the Titan army against Jupiter. 
—Hygin Fab. 150. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 247 

H The wars, in those countries, between the gods and the 
Titans are themes of the ancient poets. The descriptions of 
them contain many particulars, borrowed from antecedent 
events and dates. They belong to the original dispersion of 
the Giants from Babel. But there is a degree of local con- 
sistency in the accounts, which compel me to infer, that a 
national history is at the bottom. And I am happy to find 
this, which has long been my opinion, confirmed by that of a 
writer and a critic whose learning and abilities cannot be 
enough admired. 

" Mr Penn* has some excellent remarks upon c Those 
fragments of tradition which connect the original occupants of 
Greece with the Celtic stock.' 

" He demonstrates that Celtic terms are still preserved in 
the Orphic Hymns, and quotes the following authorities, in 
which the Titans are acknowledged as the old inhabitants, 
and which prove, that, in them, we find the parents of the 
Celtse. 

Ttmvzsy yain; rs, ncu ovoxvou ecyXaa, Tckvo,, 
Hfttrsguv vrgoyovoi vranoav. Orph. H. 36. 1. 

" Titans, illustrious sons of earth and heav'n, 
Our sires' progenitors " 

s$ Ekkrivstr<n fJLa,%ccioav 
BxocccoiKrtV, Kdi KEATON avcc<ryi<ra,vrB$ A^jja, 

'Pwrovrcu. Callim. H. in Del. 172. 

" Against the Greeks, then shall a future race 
, Of Titans, pouring from the utmost west, 
Raise the barbaric sword and Celtic war." 

" To this I may add, that the old poets regarded the Titans 
as the original and primitive race of mankind. Hence Orpheus 

says, 

* Orient. Coll. vol. i. p. 265. 



248 HISTORY OF THE 

Eg vftiuv ya,^ tfatfu, vrzku y&vsa xarx notrpov. H. in Titanas. 

" From you are all the tribes throughout the world." 
Avros km tf^orign yzv&n, Arati. Phaenom. 16. 

O; £s tfgongctv ymav rovs Tiravug (patri. Schol, in Lor, 

<e Some call the Titans the first race. 

(< The names by which they were known, <ywy&vu$, Terri- 
gence, Sons of the Earth, imply that, generally speaking, they 
were Indigence. Titanes may be a synonymous term. Tit, 
in Hebrew and in Celtic, signifies earth, and in the latter 
Hanu, Geni, JEni — to spring forth, to be born, 

" These Titans, the sons of the heaven and the earth, or of 
the climate and the country, and the parents of the Celtse, 
according to Hesiod's account, were driven into the lower 
part of the earth, into a land already inhabited by some of 
their brethren. They must therefore have been such branches 
of the family as had staid behind, and had, by force, kept 
possession of a land, intended only as a thoroughfare, but 
were compelled, at length, to follow the rest. 

" The arch of the heavens was placed upon the shoulders 
of Atlas, the chief of the Titans. The fable perhaps only 
intimates, that he was driven to the lower or western region 
which, according to mythology, supported heaven. It was 
to the north-west that Atlas appears to have been doomed.— 
Apollodorus, correcting authors who had written before him, 
concerning the Hesperides, directs us to look for Atlas, not 
in Lybia, but amongst the Hyperboreans. Taura. h w, ovx *>$ 
rivi$i sv A&un* aXX' ztti rov ArXe&vro$ sv vvrif&oQtois, Lib. 1\» c. iv. 

§11. 

" And again — cos lis, vwiv u$ YrfBgGogtou$ 9 vrgo$ ArXotvra,, In 

searching for Atlas, Hercules proceeds through Illyricum to 
the river Eridanus, shaping his course towards the land of the 
Celtse, whom Heraclides of Pontus calls Hyperboreans. 
Plutarch, in Camillo, 

" Atlas was not then amongst the African but the Celtic 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 249 

Libyi, Lebici or Libici, a people of Gallia Transpadana, 
descendants of the Salui (Liv) perhaps of the S' Alpii, the 
same as the Taurini, Cottii or Lepontii, in whose territory 
the Rhine sprung. 

" The descendants of the Titanian Japetidse may, I think, 
be recognised in the Waldenses, the Irish, and the Brigantes. 
— Many proofs may be given that a Celtic dialect, allied 
nearly to the Irish, once prevailed in Thrace. But I shall 
have occasion to resume that subject. " 

The opinion of these two eminent philologists 
we submit, without note or comment, leaving the 
reader to reconcile seeming contrarieties ; butf 
perhaps, it becomes us in connexion, to submit, 

In the second place — that a different appellation 
does not necessarily constitute a different nation, 
or language. If it did, we should make out not a 
few nations and languages in the Celtic tribes of 
Caledonia; whereas, in reality, they are but one 
and the same identical people, under varied pa- 
tronymic appellations. That the same remark 
applies to not a few of the Celtic tribes, distinguished 
by different appellations in the preceding part of 
this work, will appear from the following compari- 
son of their language, severally, viz : — 

Scottish Gaelic. Fromthe Irish. From the New Tes- 

Shorter Catechism. Glas- lament. London. 1681. 

gow. 1659. Ar n'at'air ata ar neam' 

Ar Nathairne ata ar naom't'ar hainm. Tigead' 

Neamh, Go ma beannuigte do riog'achd detintar do toil 

hainmsa, Gu dtig do Rio- ar an ttalam mar do nit'ear 

ghachdsa, dentar do thoilsi ar neam'. Ar naran laet'- 

air dtalmhuin mar ata air am'ail tab'air duinn a niu 

L 2 



250 



HISTORY OF THE 



Neamh. Tabhair dhuinn a 
nuigh ar nar an laitheamhuil, 
Agas maith dhuinn ar bhfia- 
cha, amhuil mhathmhuid dar 
bhfeicheamhnuibh, Agas na 
leig ambuaidhreadh sinn, achd 
saor sinn 6 olc : Oir is leatsa 
an rioghachd, an cumhachd, 
agus an gloir gu sioraidh. 
Amen. 



agus mait' duinn ar B'fiacha 
mar mait'midne dar B'feit'- 
eam'nuibh fein. Agus na leig 
sinn a Ceatgugad' ac'd saor 
in 6 olc : Oir is leachd fein 
an Riog'achd agus an cum'- 
achd agus an ghloir go sior- 
rukfe. Amen. 



The reader cannot but acknowledge the identity of 
these, so called, two languages ; — and what is there 
in a name ? Again — 



Scottish Gaelic. From 
the Shorter Catechism, 
Glasgow. 1659. 
Ar Nathairne ata ar 
Neamh, Go ma beannuigte 
hainmsa, Gu dtig do Rio- 
ghachdsa, dentar do thoilsi 
air dtalmhuin mar ata air 
Neamh. Tabhair dhuinn a 
nuigh ar nar an laitheamhuil, 
Agas maith dhuinn ar bhfia- 
cha, amhuil mhathmhuid dar 
bhfeicheamhnuibh, Agas na 
leig ambuaidhreadh sinn, achd 
saor sinn 6 olc : Oir is leatsa 
an rioghachd, an cumhachd, 
agus an gloir gu sioraidh. 
Amen. 



Manes. From Bish op Wi U 

sons Works, 

Ayr ain t'ayns Niau, cash- 
erick dy rou Dt'ennim ; dy 
jig dey Rihreaght ; d'taigney 
dy rou jeant er Tallu, myr 
te ayns Niau ; cur duin jiu 
nyn Arran gagh laa ; as leih 
duin nyn Loughtin, myr ta 
shin leih dau-syn ta janu 
Loughtin ny noi shin ; as ny 
lihid shin ayns Miolagh ; agh 
livrey shin veih Oik. Son 
liats y Rihreaght, y Phuar, as 
y Ghloir, son dy Bragh as dy 
Bragh. Amen. 



Here is a third language, differing from the for- 
mer two in nothing but orthography. We have 
already remarked somewhere, that the multiplicity 
of languages is the effect, in a great measure, of 
writing : one commenced here, and another there, 
to chronicle, by means of signs or letters, what had 
formerly been known, merely orally; thus, writing 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 251 

by the ear, as we would say, a slight difference of 
orthography was to be expected. 

Scottish Gaelic. From Welsh. From the Bible of 
the Shorter Catechism. 1727 and 1726. 
Glasgow. 1659. Ein Tad, yr hwn wyt yn 
Ar Nathairne ata ar y Nefoedd, sancteiddier dy 
Neamh, Go ma beannuigte Enw deled dy Deyrnas ; 
hainmsa, Gu dtig do Rio- gwneler dy Ewyllys, megisyn 
ghachdsa, dentar do thoilsi y Nef, felly ar y Ddaear he- 
air dtalmhuin mar ata air fyd, Dyro i ni heddyw ein 
Neamh. Tabhair dhuinn a Bara beunyddiol ; a maddeu 
nuigh ar nar an laitheamhuil, i ni ein Dyledion, felly mad- 
Agas maith dhuinn ar bhfia- deuwn ninnau i'n Dyledwyr ; 
cha, amhuil mhathmhuid dar ac nac arwain ni i Brofedi- 
bhfeicheamhnuibh, Agas na gaeth eithr gwared ni rhag 
leigambuaidhreadhsinn, achd Drwg. Canys eiddot ti yw'r 
saor sinn 6 olc : Oir isleatsa Deyrnas, a'r Nerth, a*r Go- 
an rioghachd, an curahachd, goniant, yn Oes Oesoedd. 
agus an gloir gu sioraidh. Amen. 
Amen. 



l ? 



Here, also, the difference is very slight — " Tad, 
or Tat every Celt knows to be equivalent to Athair, 
or Pater ; our terms for the true God, as well as 
for other things, are necessarily borrowed from 
sensible objects. 

Of these titles we have elsewhere shown the 

primary meaning. That they are equivalent, and, 

therefore, convertible terms, the following from the 

immortal Bryant will show : viz., 

" Theuth, Thoth, Taut, Taautes, are the same title diver- 
sified ; and belong to the chief god of Egypt. From Theuth 
the Greek formed Theos and Zeus." 

Athir is equivalent to Ait-Aur, or Tau-Aur. 

" A title of Ham, or the sun" says Bryant, " was Ait, and 
Aith : it occurs continually in Egyptian names of places, as 



252 HISTORY OF THE 

well as in the composition of those which belong to deities 
and men. . . . One of the most ancient names of the Nile was 
Ait (hence Eph~Ait, Egypt) ; it was also a name given to 
the eagle as sacred to the sun. ,, 

Again, and once for all ; — 

" I have shown that the Paterce or Priests, were so deno- 
minated from the deity styled Pator : they were oracular 
temples of the sun." 

So transferable indeed are those titles, that Py- 
thon is by some, Apollo ; and by others, the devil. 

Scottish Gaelic. From Francois Breton. Mor- 
the Shorter Catechism. laix. 1626. 

Glasgow. 1659. Hon Tad pehiny os en 

Ar Nathairne ata ar EufFaou,hoz Hano-bezet san- 

Neamh, Go ma beannuigte tifiet; devet deomp ho Rovan- 

hainmsa, Gu dtig do Rio- telez ; ho Volontez hezet gret 

ghachdsa, dentar do thoilsi euel en Euff, hac en Dovar ; 

air dtalmhuin mar ata air roit deomp hezieu hon Bara 

Neamh. Tabhair dhuinn a pemdedheik ; ha pardonet 

nuigh ar nar an laitheamhuil, deomp hon Offansou, euel 

Agas maith dhuinn ar bhfia- ma pardonom da nep en de- 

cha, amhuil mhathmhuid dar ves ny offanset ; ha na per- 

bhfeicheamhnuibh, Agas na metet quet ez couezem en 

leigambuaidhreadhsinn, achd Tentation hoguen hon deli- 

saor sinn 6 olc: Oir is leatsa uret a Pechet. Amen, 
an rioghachd, an cumhachd, 
agus an gloir gu sioraidh. 
Amen. 

This is the dialect of the Celtic of which Father 
Pezron affirmeth, 

" That the language of the Titans, or Teutones, which is 
that of the Gauls, is, after a revolution of above 4000 years, 
preserved even to our time : a strange thing that so ancient 
a language should now be spoken by the Armoric Britons of 
France, and by the ancient Britons of Wales. These are the 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 



253 



people who have the honour to preserve the language of the 
posterity of Gomer, Japhet's eldest son, and the nephew of 
Shem." 

Does it not remind us of the Gaelic of Bute, 
which the people are pleased to season with a 
sprinkling of Saxon ? 



Waldensian. FromCham- 
berlayne. 
Our Name ata airneambh. 
Beanicha tainm. Gu diga 
do rioghda Gu denta du 
hoill, air talmh in mar ta ar 
neambh. Tabhar dh uinn 
an niugh ar naran limbhail. 
Agus mai dhuine ar fiach 
ambail mar mahamhid ar fia- 
cha. Na leig sihn ambharibh 
ach soarsa shin on olc. Or 
sletsa rioghda, combta, agus 
gloir, gu sibhiri. Amen. 



Scottish Gaelic. From 
the Shorter Catechism, 
Glasgow. 1659. 
Ar Nathairne ata ar 
Neamh, Go ma beannuigte 
hainmsa, Gu dtig do Rio- 
ghachdsa, dentar do thoifei 
air dtalmhuin mar ata air 
Neamh. Tabhair dhuinn a 
nuigh ar nar an laitheamhuil, 
Agus maith dhuinn ar bhfia- 
cha, amhuil mhathmhuid dar 
bhfeicheamhnuibh, Agas na 
leigambuaidhreadhsinn, achd 
saor sinn 6 olc : Oir is leatsa 
an rioghachd, an cumhachd, 
agus an gloir gu sioraidh. 
Amen. 



This is a specimen of the language of the family 
of the Celts, whom Mr Davies calls " the descend- 
ants of the Titanian Japetidae." Where is the 
necessity for calling it by a distinct appellation ? 
The Gaelic of Arran and that of St Kilda are not 
more identical, than are the Waldensian specimen 
now submitted and its collateral specimen of 
Scottish Gaelic ! The circumstance of writing 
having been in early times a continuous string of 
letters without a break, occasioned a slight differ- 
ence when this string came to be apportioned into 



254 HISTORY OF THE 

words. This accounts for the main distinction 
between the Irish Gaelic and that of Scotland. 
The final letter of a vocable in the one oftentimes 
becomes the initial in the other, and vice versa, 
while the radix always remains the same. 



Scottish Gaelic. From Cornish. Specimen of the 

the Shorter Catechism. Cornish Dialect. From 

Glasgow. 1659. Chamberlayne. 

Ar Nathairne ata ar Nei Taz, ba oz en Nev, 

Neamh, Go ma beannuigte bonegas boez tha Hano ; tha 

hainmsa, Gu dtig do Rio- Glasgarn doaz ; tha Bonogath 

ghachdsa, dentar do thoilsi bQgweez en Nor pokara en 

air dtalmhuin mar ata air Nev : dreu dho nei deithma 

Neamh. Tabhair dhuinn a gen kenevyn Bara ; ha givi- 

nuigh ar nar an laitheamhuil, a ns nei gen Pehou, karr nei 

Agas maith dhuinn ar bhfia- givians Gele ; ha a nledia 

cha, amhuil mhathmhuid dar nei idu Tentation ; byz dilver 

bhfeicheamhnuibh, Agas na nei thart Droeg. Amen, 
leigambuaidhreadhsinn, achd 
saor sinn 6 olc : Oir is leatsa 
an rioghachd, an cumhachd, 
agus an gloir gu sioraidh. 
Amen. 



The difference here is certainly considerable in 
print, but we have no doubt the two neighbours 
could converse sufficiently intelligibly in the same 
age. What language can be named that has not 
undergone some change? The difference here, 
after all, is not more than that between the English 
of Chaucer and that of Sir Walter Scott. As all 
our readers may not have Chaucer at hand, and 
therefore cannot be able to see the force of this 
our remark, we may be pardoned if we submit here 
a specimen from his " Court of Love" viz. : 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 255 

81 Within ane herber and a gardein faire, 
Where flowris growe, and herbis vertuous, 

Of which the savour sweet was, and the eire — 
— — There was Rosiall, womanly to se, 

Whose stremis sotill persyng of her eye : 
Mine hert gan thrill for beautie in the stounde, 
Alas ! quoth I, W r ho has me gyve this wound ? 

" If I shall all fully her descrive, 

Her hed was rounde, by compas of natures 

Her here was golde she passit all on live, 
And lillie forehede had this creature, 

With livelish browis, flawe of colour pure, 
Betwene the which was mene disseveraunce 
From every browe, to shewin a distaunce. 

" Her nose directid streight and even as line, 

With forme and shape thereto convenient, 
In which the godis milk-white path doth shine, 

And eke her eyen ben bright and orient, 
As is the Smaragade unto my judgement, 

Or yet these sterris hevenly small and bright, 

Her visage is of lovely red and white. 

" Her mouthe is short, and shutte, in litil space 

Flamyng somedele, not over rid 1 mene, 
With pregnaunt lips, and thick to kiss percace, 

For lippis thin, not fat, but ovir lene, 
They serve of naught, they be not worth a bene ; 

For if the base ben full, there is delite, 

Maximian truly thus doth he write. 

" But, to my purpose, I saie as white as snow 

Ben all her teeth, and in order they stande 
Of one stature, and eke her breth I trowe 

Surmounteth all odours that er I founde 
In sueteness ; and her body, face, and honde 

Ben sharply slender ; so that from the hede 

Unto the fote, all is but womanhedde. 



256 HISTORY OF THE 

" I hold my peace, of other things hidde : 
Here shall my soule, and not my tong, hewraie. 

But how she was arraied, if ye me hidde, 
That shall I well discovir you and saie, 

A bend of gold and silk full fresche and gaie, 
With her intresse ybrouderit full wele, 
Right smothly kept, and shining every dele. 

" About her neck a flower of fresche devise, 

With rubies set, that lustie were to sene, 
And she in goune was light and sommer wise, 

Shapin full wele, the colour was of grene, 
With aureat sent about her sidis clene, 

With divers stonis precious and riche ; 

Thus was she raied, yet sawe I ne'er her liche." 

We might follow up this subject much farther, 
and show what a multitude of Tongues ramify out 
from the one great root — the Celtic : even the 
Lord's Prayer in Greek, if put into the Roman 
character is pretty intelligible to a Celt of the 
nineteenth century ! There we have c ouranois' 
for the Celtic auran, heavens ; c to onoma sou 9 for 
do ainmsa, thy name : ' to ihelema sou 9 for do 
thoilsa, thy will ; c ton arton, 9 for an t-aran, the 
bread ; c of edemata,' for odpheum, offence, crime, 
where we may perceive the palpable transposition ; 
6 peirasmori for beir-as, or buaireas, temptation; 
and ' poneron 9 a Cabalistic term equivalent to our 
Ipheron, hell, &c. Transposition has multiplied 
terms — not confounded them. What in Josh, 
xix. 8, is Baaleth or Bolet, is in I. Kings xvi. 31, 
Eth-Baal, or Et-Bol. Ain-Ath, whose temple 
in Canaan was styled BUh-Anath {Bu-Ain- Tau), 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 257 

is found often reversed, and styled Ath-An. 
What matters it whether we say Rih-gille, or 
Gille-Rih ? 

In the third place, — we would not have the 
reader understand that our attachment to the 
Celtic arises altogether from a national predelic- 
tion — a day-dream of youth — a hereditary vanity. 
Of nationality we would not wish certainly to 
divest ourselves, if we could ; nor are we altogether 
without a sense of importance in the knowledge of 
the antiquity of origin, which seems fairly conceded 
to the Celts and their language, by the very dif- 
ferences that exist among those who have treated 
the subject. But, besides this, we are attached to 
the Celtic, for its own sake : its simple, natural 
structure delights us ; its native, poetical beauty 
charms us ; its omnipotence in clearing up occult 
and abstruse terms, as also the maxims and man- 
ners of antiquity, fascinates us. People can never 
adequately admire, until they have had ocular de- 
monstration. The Queen of Sheba (Esh-Ab,) 
admired Solomon and his glory from report ; but 
report, it would appear, scarce conveyed an idea 
of the half of his greatness. Instances, analogous 
to the case of the Queen of the South, might be 
adduced in respect of the Celtic. We could con- 
descend upon a dense cloud of witnesses, utter 
strangers, but who, having looked into and seen 
the beauties of our language, were so allured by it 



258 HISTORY OF THE 

that they turned out, instead of being ignorant de- 
claimers, its best and most potent champions. 

" Sir Matthew De Rentsi, a descendant of 
George Scanderbeg, was born in the year 1577, 
at Cullen, in Germany. He had been a great 
traveller, and coming into Ireland, he spent there 
the latter part of his life : he was, it is true, a 
general linguist, but felt particularly interested in 
the Irish tongue: he died in the fifty-seventh 
year of his age, at Athlone, on the 29th August, 
1634; and upon his tomb-stone, which was visible 
when Harris published his edition of Ware, and 
may be so still, these words were engraved — c He 
gave great perfection to this nation by composing 
a grammar, a dictionary, and chronicle in the Irish 
tongue.' The Irish language seems to have en- 
grossed his study for about three years. This 
monument, which is on the Westmeath side, was 
erected by his son, of the same name. General 
Vallancey, who was born in Flanders in 1730, and 
died at Dublin, in 1812, at the advanced age of 
eighty-two, first resolved on learning Irish when 
engaged in a military survey of the country. He 
published his grammar in 1773. William Halliday, 
the son of a respectable apothecary in Dublin, 
though he had a critical knowledge of the classics 
and some modern languages, was not at all ac- 
quainted with Irish till the later years of his short 
life ; yet he not only acquired such a facility in un- 



CELTIC LANGUAGE, 259 

der standing the most ancient Irish manuscripts as 
surprised those whose native tongue it was from 
infancy, but published his grammar, containing 
some curious observations on the declensions and 
prosody of the Irish tongue, though he died at the 
early age of twenty-four, in August, 1812. Mr 
E. O'Reilly, the author of the latest Irish diction- 
ary, was also arrived at manhood before he knew 
the language, though born at Harold's Cross, and 
educated in Dublin. Indeed his application to the 
study of it was occasioned by what some would 
call a mere accident. In the year 1794, a young 
man of the name of Wright, who was about to emi- 
grate from his native country, had a number of 
books to dispose of, which consisted chiefly of Irish 
manuscripts. They had been collected by Morris 
O' Gorman, who had taught Vallancey and Dr 
Young, Bishop of Clonfert. This man's library, 
which filled five large sacks, O'Reilly purchased, 
and, on examination, found himself possessed of 
some of the rarest Irish manuscripts ; for one of 
which he has since refused fifty guineas. Master 
of this repository, he commenced the study of the 
language; so that, to say nothing of any other 
pieces, the last Irish Dictionary, containing about, 
or above 50,000 words, was composed and pub- 
lished by an individual who, at the period referred 
to, could not speak a word of the language. After 
instances such as these, one cannot wonder at the 



260 HISTORY OF THE 

attachment of the natives to their ancient tongue." 
See Hist, of Dublin, vol. II. 

To these we would add at least two living 
witnesses, namely — our own honoured correspond- 
ent, Sir William Betham of Ulster, King of Arms* 
author of a learned and critical work on the origin 
of the Gael and Cimbri ; and Mr James Logan, 
author of the " Scottish Gael," as also of several 
able papers and essays upon the Welsh, which 
have appeared, from time to time, in the Cymbrian 
Magazine. The former of these two in a letter to 
the Author says — 

" I have often asked Irish scholars if the collation was 
genuine, and if they really thought Plautus' Punic Gaelic ? 
but never could get an answer ; and to satisfy myself I was 
under the necessity of studying Gaelic, and have reason to 
rejoice I have made myself somewhat acquainted with that 
most ancient of languages." 

If human testimony, and that, too, the most 
respectable, be allowed any weight at all, there 
is surely in the Celtic language something extra- 
ordinary — something not common to any other 
living language ! 

A clergyman of the Scottish Church in writing 
to Mr Anderson, already referred to, says, — 
" While the Gaelic continues to be generally 
spoken in the Highlands, it must always be the 
language best adapted for conveying religious in- 
struction to the people. In Lowland parishes, 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 261 

where English alone is spoken and preached, it may 
be fairly presumed, that some of the auditors, 
though they speak no other tongue, do not under- 
stand the whole of the language they hear delivered 
from the pulpit : but it is one of the peculiarities 
of the Gaelic, that the illiterate speak it with as 
much propriety as those who have received the ad- 
vantage of education ; and that, as far as regards 
language merely, the common herd will understand 
the best orator" 

This is sending us back again to our starting- 
point. The language is so natural, so descriptive, 
that the most illiterate is not unfrequently the best 
orator — the person who deals in the strongest and 
most poetical expressions, and with the greatest 
precision of application ! Who are our sublimest 
poets ? Who are they who paint, with the most 
masterly pencil, the phases of the moon — the ac- 
cents of the ocean — the panting of the steed — the 
wildness of the chase — the trappings of a warrior 
— the encounter of heroes ? We would unhesitat- 
ingly answer, that man and this woman who never 
knew r a volume but the volume of Nature — who 
never knew an alphabet but the grand alphabet of 
hieroglyphics ! 

It is a mistaken notion, that people cannot be 
intelligent or good without education. We hold 
that, provided their teachers be intelligent and 
good, the people may be so also, even without the 



262 HISTORY OF THE 

aid of letters, however desirable ; all the difference 
being, that in the one case knowledge is received 
through the sense of sight, and in the other through 
the sense of hearing; and " faith comes hy hearing" 
The Highlanders have often been characterized 
as savage, because they did not cultivate reading 
and writing. The author would offer his humble 
testimony here, on the eve, perhaps, of parting 
with them till time shall be no more; that, un- 
lettered as they may be, a more religious people 
/ he never knew on the face of the globe. Where is 
the Sabbath-day kept so devoutly ? where are the 
ties of friendship maintained so sacredly ? where 
are the filial affections so tenderly at work ? where 
is the nuptial bed so unsullied ? Let echo respond 
where ? Even before ever they saw a Bible, the 
spirit of that sacred volume was familiar to them 
through oral instruction, in brief but sententious 
lessons ; aild the mountain memory, retentive be- 
yond credibility, reduced it to daily practice. 

The advocates for the antiquity of Ossian's 
Poems have done injury to their own cause in press- 
ing the existence of these noble flights of genius in 
MSS., when, in fact, there were no MSS. equal to 
their antiquity by many centuries. Writing, in truth, 
was prohibited among the Celts ; but this crooked 
policy was nobly supplied by the Seanachaidh and 
the Bard: the former dealing copious moral and 
historical knowledge by oral rehearsal; and the 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 263 

latter rousing to adventurous deeds in the day of 
battle, either by his own heroic compositions, or 
those of kindred spirits of former ages. 

That this was the primitive mode of handing down 
instruction, common sense concedes, and scripture 
confirms. " Inquire, I pray thee," says Bildad, "of 
the former age, and prepare thyself to the search 
of their fathers." " Therefore, brethren," says 
Paul, " stand fast, and hold the traditions which 
ye have been taught, whether by tvord, or by our 
epistle." The Pharisees — an appellation embrac- 
ing in idea the op/hYe-worship — w r ere much given to 
tradition : " Our fathers have told us what thou 
didst." 

To this end, as well as to the advancement of the 
Arts, antediluvian longevity was most suitable ; 
and herein, as in every other instance, the wisdom 
of God is conspicuous. That the fragments of J 
poetry ascribed to Ossian were, in part, composed 
by himself, we have internal evidence ; that sections \ 
of them have been imported from the East, we are ' 
also satisfied. The very names of his heroes are, 
for the greater part, Cabalistic, and indicative of the 
: solar worship. Phion, (Fingal) bespeaks the Phoe- 
nician : Cual, the Syrian, or dog-star worshipper, * 
of which Con-chulin, with his crios, or belt, is but — 
a variety. The same remark applies to Oran, or - 
Owran, to Cowan, to Osc'ar, to Bran, to Deirc or 
Draco, to Coun, Gaul, and so of the rest — all 



264 HISTORY OF THE 

oracular appellations, and as truly of Eastern origin 
as was the Tau-ghaivrn, or invocation of Tau, 
performed not very long ago in the island of Mull. 
The reader will excuse a description of this Pagan 
ceremony, viz : — 

" Taghairm, s.f. (Ir. toghairm.) A sort of divination; 
an echo ; a petition ; a summons. 

" The divination by the taghairm was once a noted super- 
stition among the Gael, and in the northern parts of the 
Lowlands of Scotland. When any important question con- 
cerning futurity arose, and of which a solution was, by all 
means, desirable, some shrewder person than his neighbours 
was pitched upon, to perform the part of a prophet. This 
person was wrapped in the warm smoking hide of a newly- 
slain ox or cow, commonly an ox, and laid at full length in the 
wildest recess of some lonely waterfall. The question was 
then put to him, and the oracle was left in solitude to consider 
it. Here he lay for some hours with his cloak of knowledge 
around him, and over his head, no doubt, to see the better into 
futurity ; deafened by the incessant roaring of the torrent; every 
sense assailed ; his body steaming ; his fancy was in ferment ; 
and whatever notion had found its way into his mind from so 
many sources of prophecy, it was firmly believed to have been 
communicated by invisible beings who were supposed to haunt 
such solitudes." — Dr Armstrong's Gaelic Dictionary. 

This is sufficiently Pagan ; yet there was another 
mode of dealing with this Tau, To, or Tot, not 
less so, of which the following from the "London 
Literary Gazette" for March, 1824, is a fair 
picture : viz., 

11 The last time the Taughairm was performed in the 
Highlands, was in the island of Mull, in the beginning of the 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 265 

seventeenth century, and the place is still well known to the 
inhabitants. Allan Maclean, commonly styled Allan Mac 
Echain (son of Hector,) was the projector of these horrid 
rites ; and he was joined by Lachlan Maclean, otherwise de- 
nominated Lachain Our (dun Lachlan.) They were men of 
resolute and determined characters, and both young and 
unmarried. 

" The institution was, no doubt, of pagan origin, and was a 
sacrifice offered to the Evil Spirit, in return for which the votaries 
were entitled to demand two boons. The idea entertained of 
it at the time must have been dreadful, and it is still often 
quoted for the purpose of terrifying the young and credulous. 
The sacrifice consisted of living cats roasted on a spit while 
life remained, and when the animal expired, another was put 
on in its place. 

" This operation was continued for four days and nights 
without tasting food. The Taughairm commenced at mid- 
night between Friday and Saturday, and had not long pro- 
ceeded, when infernal spirits began to enter the house or barn 
in which it was performing, in the form of black cats. The 
first cat that entered, after darting a furious look at the opera- 
tor, said, ■ Lachain Our, thou son of Neil, that is bad usage 
of a cat.' Allan, who superintended as master of the rites, 
cautioned Lachlan, that whatever he should hear or see, he 
must continue to turn the spit; and this was done accordingly. 
The cats continued to enter, and the yells of the cat on the 
spit, joined by the rest, were tremendous. A cat of enor- 
mous size at last appeared, and told Lachain Our that if he 
did not desist before his great-eared brother arrived, he never 
would behold the face of God. Lachlan answered, that if all 
the devils in hell came, he would not flinch until his task was 
concluded. By the end of the fourth day there was a black 
cat at the root of every , after on the roof of the barn, and 
their yells were distinctly heard beyond the Sound of Mull, 
in Morven. 

M 



266 HISTORY OF THE 

" The Taughairm at length was finished, and the votaries 
were then to demand their due reward on the spot where the 
rites were performed. Allan was agitated by the fearful 
sights he had witnessed, and made use of two words meaning 
wealth. Lachlan, who, though the youngest man, had the 
greatest firmness, and had all his wits about him, asked pro- 
geny and wealth, and each obtained literally what he asked. 

" When Allan was on his death-bed, and his pious friends 
advised him to beware of the wiles of Satan, he replied, that 
if La chain Our (who was then dead) and himself were to have 
the use of their arms, they would dethrone Satan, and take 
up the best berths in his dominions. When Allan's funeral- 
procession approached the church-yard, the second-sighted 
persons present saw Lachain Our at some distance in full 
armour, at the head of a party in sable attire, and the smell of 
sulphur was perceived by all the people. 

" The stone on which Cluase Mor,* the fiercest of the cats, 
sat, is still exhibited, with the mark visible in small pits upon 
its surface. 

" Allan's figure, in full armour, is cut on the stone which 
covers his grave, in Iona : and the story of the Taughairm is 
always attached to his name, to this day.f 

"Cameron, of Lochiel, performed the Taughairm some 
time before this, and was presented with a small silver shoe, 
which was to be put on the left foot of every son born in that 
family ; and this custom was always continued, until the shoe 
was unfortunately lost, when Lochiel's house was consumed 
by fire, in 1 746. This shoe fitted all of them but one ; and he 
afterwards turned his back to the foe at Sheriff-Muir, having 
inherited a large foot by his mother, who was of another race." 

* The cat with huge ears. 

f A very imperfect account of the Taughairm will be found 
in one of Sir Walter Scott's notes to his beautiful poem, " The 
Lady of the Lake." 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 267 

The reader shall have observed by this time 
that Cabalistical appellatives stand for bad as 
well as good meaning. Tau here stands for the 
evil spirit, although most commonly a title of the 
true God — just as Bel stands for God, and yet is 
the radix of i?e/ial, or the evil genius. This 
anomaly arose from the terms being convertible ; 
generally speaking, Typhon, which is but a trans- 
position of Phyton, was the evil genius and the 
god of plagues : hence our term Typhus. 

In the fourth place, — it appears to us that the 
History of the Celtic Language may be turned to 
no mean account in our dealings with those of our 
fellow-mortals who still worship the beggarly ele- 
ments of this world to the exclusion of " Athalr 
gach dull" i.e. the Father of Elements. Let the 
devoted missionary, if he would gain the Pagan, 
become himself a Pagan, at least in so far as a 
knowledge of the rise and progress of that worship 
is concerned — let him convince the deluded being 
that an idol is really nothing in the world, — that 
what he believes a god is but a dead and material 
symbol, which, in the infancy of society, had been 
employed as a medium for conveying information, 
chiefly of the astronomical kind, or, at most, sha- 
dows of substantial things then future, and to come, 
and he will find it answer the purpose of a school- 
master to prepare the way for the reception of 
Truth. 



268 HISTORY OF THE 

That the Chaldean and Egyptian emblems are 
still the great opponents of Christ and his glorious 
gospel, no intelligent person will deny. The Aub 
of Endor is still the Ofc-woman and the Ofc-man 
resorted to by the negro as oracular, when desir- 
ous to detect his stolen property ; and the god Re~ 
phim still adorns the naked person of the New 
Zealander. 

iC Obion/' says Dearie, " in its original signification, was a 
sacred title, applied to the solar god, who was symbolized by 
the serpent Ob. It is compounded of ob and on. On is a 
title of the Sun — thus the city of On, in Egypt, was called 
by the Greeks Heliopolis. 

" It is observable that the woman of Endor is called Oub 
or Ob ; and she was applied to as oracular. Similarly, when- 
ever a negro was desirous of detecting a thief, or of recover- 
ing lost property, he applied to the obi-man or obi-woman 
for an oracle." 

ei The argument that the Obeah-worship was originally 
connected with Ophiolatreia," says the same reverend author, 
" may be further corroborated by the inferences which result 
from the following facts : — 

" 1 . The natives of Whidah worshipped the serpent down 
to the year 1726. 

" 2. A tribe of the Whidanese is called Eboes ; which has 
the same signification as Oboes — for they may be traced to the 
same original word 2^, Aub, which has successively undergone 
the variations, oph, ob, eph 9 eb, or ev. The term Eboes may, 
therefore, without any great violence to probability, be inter- 
preted, ' the worshippers of Eph.' 

" 3. These people (the Eboes) are still addicted to a species 
of serpent-worship : they worship the guana. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 269 

" 4. A neighbouring tribe, the Koromantynes, adore and 
propitiate as the evil spirit, a god whom they call Oboni. 

" From these facts we may infer, that the deity Oboni was 
the original evil deity of the negro nations of that part of 
Africa ; — that he was originally worshipped under the symbol 
of a serpent) as his name imports ; that his peculiar worship- 
pers (perhaps his priesthood) were called Oboes* ; — that the 
word oboes implies worshippers of Ob ; — and, lastly, that 
Oboni is no other than the Ophion of Phcenica, and the 
Obion of Egypt ; each of which was a title of the same solar 
god, who was symbolized by the serpent Ob. Hence there is 
room for one of these two inferences ; that the Gold Coast 
was either colonized from Canaan, or from Egypt : the former 
of which is, perhaps, the more probable, from the greater fa- 
cility afforded to the Phoenicians by navigation than to the 
Egyptians, who would have to cross deserts, and overcome 
many other physical difficulties in their distant march. The 
period at which this emigration took place, must be referred 
to a very remote age, not only because of the totally distinct 
physical characteristics of the negroes, but also of the simplicity 
of their worship. They had neither the multitudinous host of 
the Egyptian Pantheon, nor the absorbing adoration of the 
Syrian goddesses: they had neither mythology nor image- 
worship ;f but preserved the simple, original veneration of 
the serpent in his living form. The name of the evil deity, 



* The name of the king of the Eboes in 1831 was Obi. 
The people described by Lander are far less barbarous than the 
Eboes of Edwards. The slave trade, which generally barbar- 
izes Europeans, appears, in this instance, to have conferred a 
comparative civilization upon Africans. 

+ Their only idol — if it may be called one — was theArgoye, 
a human figure crowned with serpents and lizards. It was a 
subordinate fetiche, or whistler. 



270 HISTORY OF THE 

Oboni, it is true, indicates a relation to the solar worship ; 
but as they had neither obelisks nor pyramids, nor any of the 
other adjuncts of this peculiar religion, it is probable that the 
name Oboni was introduced at a later period. However that 
may be, it is certain that the worship of the serpent prevailed 
in this part of Africa from the earliest times." 

Is there no argument here? Is the reader sa- 
tisfied now with our etymon of P7?.eenician ? The 
best part of it is, that what the reverend divine 
says of Aub applies with equal force to all the 
divinities on our frontispiece. Yes, — 

*' Ye inhabitants of India ! in vain you cover yourselves with 
the vail of mystery : the hawk of your god Vichenou is but one 
of the thousand emblems of the sun in Egypt ; and your in- 
carnations of a god in the fish, the boar, the lion, the tortoise, 
and all his monstrous adventures, are only the metamorphoses 
of the sun, who, passing through the signs of the twelve ani- 
mals, was supposed to assume their figures, and perform their 
astronomical functions. People of Japan ! your bull which 
breaks the mundane egg, is only the bull of the zodiac, which 
in former times opened the seasons, the age of creation, the 
vernal equinox. It is the same bull, Apis, which Egypt adored, 
and which your ancestors, O Jewish rabbins ! worshipped in 
the golden calf. This is still your bull, followers of Zoroas- 
ter ! which sacrificed in the symbolical mysteries of Mythra, 
poured out his blood which fertilized the earth." — Ruins, 
p. 138. 

In the fifth place. It is now time to appeal to 
the reader, in respect of a proposition hazarded by 
us in an early part of the work, namely, that spt 9 
or sept does not exclusively mean a language or 
tongue, but &sept 9 or distinct denomination of pro- 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 271 

fessors. It is equivalent to the sufetes, or rather 
sufetin, who were supreme magistrates among our 
fathers, the Tyrians and Carthaginians : it is the 
Suphetim, or Judges of scripture. It blends in 
ideal meaning with our English term septre, or 
sceptre ; because, of old, any person preferred to 
honours, bore a sceptre, or staff of office. When 
the tribes murmured at seeing the priesthood set- 
tled in the family of Aaron, the chiefs of the tribes 
received orders to bring their staves into the taber- 
nacle. The sceptre of Levi, borne by Aaron, was 
found in bloom the next day ; and the other chiefs, 
we are informed, took back their rods of command: 
hence the Seventy and Vulgate generally translate 
tsnttf, sbt, tribe, because the prince of each tribe 
carried a sceptre, as a mark of dignity and com- 
mand. Let us now, therefore, in deference to the 
original, instead of " By these were the isles of 
the Gentiles divided in their lands, every one after 
his tongue," read every one after his tribe, sept, 
(nnzw, sptm) confession, creed. This gives us a 
lift beyond the walls of Babylon, where Bishop 
Fuller left us, and allows us to ramble onward to 
the cradle of the human race, as we have, with 
much satisfactions done. That nations, tribes, 
families, and individuals, in not a few instances, 
owe their distinctive appellations severally to their 
insignia or tutelar deity, is a point too obvious to 
dispute. 



272 HISTORY OF THE 

" This celebrated hierogram of the Ophites," says Deane, 
" was painted on the shield of Perseus, an Argive, who was 
distinguished by the device of c Medusa's head.' And Hip- 
pomedon, an Argive also, one of the seven chiefs before 
Thebes,* bore the same hierogram, if I rightly understand 
these lines of Eschylus : — 

Tl£o<ry$oi(pi(rra,t xoikoyucrrogos kvkXov. 

'Evraivr) ®>JiP>oiS' 501, 502. 

The poet is describing the devices upon the shields of the be- 
siegers, and the above are the ' armorial bearings' of Hip- 
pomedon. * The hollow circumference of the concave shield 
was carried towards the ground (^oa-^upo-roci) in the folds of 
serpents.' By which I understand the poet to mean, that the 
centre of the shield was a little raised, and a circular cavity ran 
round between it andtherimofthe shield. In this cavity (towards 
the lower part of it) were folded serpents — which would ac- 
curately describe the ophite hierogram ;f the raised part of 
the shield representing the mystic circle or globe — for we must 
observe that the shield was 'hollow bellied,' i. e. concave to 
the bearer ; and, consequently, convex to the enemy. 

" The people of Argos had a tradition which indicates their 
ophite origin also. The city was said to have * been infested 
with serpents, until Apis came from Egypt, and settled in it. 
To him they attribute the blessing of having their country 
freed from this evil ; but the brood came from the very quar- 
ter from whence Apis was supposed to have come. They 
were certainly Hivites from Egypt.' "f 

" The breastplate and baldrick of Agamemnon, king of 

* Alcmaon also, who was present at this siege, was dis- 
tinguished by the cognisance of a serpent upon his shield. — - 
Pindar Pythia, 8. 

t Seech, i. " Ophiolatreia in Persia." Plate. 

t Bryant, Anal. ii. 212 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 2?3 

Argos, exhibited the device of a triple-headed serpent.* His 
brother Menelaus, king of Sparta, was similarly distinguished 
by a serpent upon his shield. The Spartans, as well as the 
Athenians, believed in their serpentine origin, and called 
themselves ophiogence 9 i.e. seed or offspring of serpents. 

(i In Argolis, moreover, was the town of Epidaurus, famous 
for the temple of iEsculapius, where that god was worshipped 
undeY the symbol of a serpent. We read in Pausaniasf that 
live serpents were kept here, and fed regularly by servants, 
who laid their food upon the floor, but dared not approach the 
sacred reptiles. This must have been only through religious 
awe ; for the serpents of Epidaurus were said to be harmless.% 
The statue of iEsculapius at this temple, represented him leaning 
upon a staff, and resting one hand upon the head of a serpent. § 
His sister, the goddess Hygea, was represented with a large 
serpent twisted about her, and drinking out of a chalice in her 
hand. Sometimes it was coiled up in her lap ; at others, held 
in the hand. )J 

And again — 

" When the priestess of Apollo delivered her oracles, she 
stood, or sat, upon a tripod. This was a name commonly 
given to any sort of vessel, seat, or table, supported upon 
three feet. The tripod of the Pythian priestess was dis- 
tinguished by a base emblematical of her god. It was a 
triple-headed serpent of brass, whose body, folded in circles 
growing wider and wider towards the ground, formed a coni- 
cal column. The cone, it should be remembered, was sacred 
to the solar deity. The three heads were disposed triangu- 
larly, in order to sustain the three feet of the tripod, which 
was of gold. Herodotus^ tells us, that it was consecrated to 
Apollo by the Greeks, out of the spoils of the Persians after 

* Homer, Iliad, A, 38. f Paus. lib. ii. 106. 

X Pausan. lib. ii. 136. § Montf. i. 180. 

|| Ibid. 181. \ ix. 81. 

M 2 



274 HISTORY OF THE 

the battle of Platea. He describes it accurately. Pausanias,* 
who mentions it also, omits the fact of the three heads. He 
records a tradition of a more ancient tripod, which was car- 
ried off by the Tyrinthian Hercules, but restored by the son 
of Amphitryon. An engraving of the serpentine column 
of the Delphic tripod may be seen in Montfaucon, vol. 
ii. p. 86. The golden portion of this tripod was carried away 
by the Phocians, when they pillaged the temple of Delphi ; 
an outrage which involved them in the sacred war which ter- 
minated in their ruin. The Thebans, who were the foremost 
among the avengers of Delphi, were the most notorious 
Ophites of antiquity." 
Once more — 

" We may remark, that it was not an unusual custom of the 
Gentiles for the priest or priestess of any god to take the name 
of the deity they served. Thus Clemens Alexandrinus calls 
the priest of Cnuphis in Egypt, Secnuphis. This was the 
priest with whom Plato conversed,! and his god was the same 
as the Ob of Canaan ; that is, the serpent-god of the country. 
We read also of Oinuphis, a priest of Heliopolis, from whom 
Pythagoras is said to have learned astronomy. :f Heliopolis, 
* the city of the sun,' was called in Egypt On, which was a 
title of the solar deity. Oinuphis therefore, (or rather 
Onuphis,) was the solar deity On, symbolized by the sacred 
serpent Oph. In this case therefore, as in the former, the 
priest assumed the cognomen of his god. Again, Eudoxus 
was taught astronomy by another priest of Heliopolis, whose 
name was Conuphis, or C'nuphis.jJ 

" For these examples I am indebted to Jablonski, who says 
that Secnuphis means literally Se-ich-Cnuphis, ' the servant 
of the god Cnuphis .' 

* Lib. x. p. 633. 

f Jablonski Pantheon. Egypt, lib., i. c. 4. s. 11. 
t Plutarch. De Iside et Osiride, 632. Edit. Steph. 
§ Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. p. 303. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 275 

l( In like manner we find that the priestess of Delphi was 
called Pythia, from her deity Python : and the Druid who 
was the minister of the British God Hu, was called * an ad- 
der ;' because adders were symbolical of the god whom he 
served, whose chief title was * Hu, the dragon-ruler of the 
world.'* 

M It is a curious coincidence, that as the witch of Endor is 
called oub, and the African sorceress obi, from the serpent 
deity Oub ; so the old English name of a witch, hag, bears ap- 
parent relationship to the word hdk, the ancient British name 
of a species of snake. 

" These examples I have taken, exclusively, from the wor- 
shippers of the serpent-god in Egypt, Greece, and Britain, 
among whom the custom seems to have been more prevalent 
than among the votaries of the other heathen deities. To 
these we may add the example of the emperor Elagabalus as- 
suming the name of the Syrian god of Emesa, at whose shrine 
he officiated before he was invested with the Roman purple. 
We shall find in the sequel, that this deity was identical, or 
nearly so, with the deity whose worship we are now investi- 
gating. The difference being, that Ob was simply the ser- 
pent-god ; whereas, Elagabalus was the solar deity symbol- 
ized by the serpent. 

" From these parallels we may infer, that the priest or 
priestess of Ob, in Canaan, assumed the appellation of the 
deity whom they served. 

* We may, therefore, render Levit. xx. 27 — ' A man also, 
or woman among you, who is an Ob, (z. e. a priest or priestess 
of Ob,) shall be surely put to death :' and similarly in JDeut. 
xviii. 11, the expression, *a consulter with familiar spirits,' 
may be rendered c a consulter of the priests of Ob.' 

" Again — the woman of Endor, to whom Saul applied for 
an oracle, is called niSTlbl^ > tne ^ tera l meaning of which 

* Davies. Myth, of Druids, 122. 



276 HISTORY OF THE 

is, • one that hath Ob,' which is synonymous with \ a priestess 
of Ob: 

" The serpent Ob, thus worshipped in Canaan as oracular, 
was called ' the good daemon,' as we learn from Eusebius, 
citing* Sanchoniathon — 'The Phoenicians called this animal 
(the sacred serpent) Agathod^emon : the Egyptians like- 
wise called him Cneph, and added to him the head of a hawk, 
because of its activity.'* 

" The title Ob, or Ab, was frequently compounded with 
On, a name of the sun, because the serpent was considered 
symbolical of that deity. This symbolical worship was of 
very ancient date in Phoenicia, as we learn from Sanchonia- 
thon,! who tells us, ' The son of Thabion was the first hiero- 
phant of Phoenicia.' 

" Prophets and priests are frequently called in mythology 
the sons of the god whom they worshipped. The son of 
Thabion, therefore, was the priest of Thabion. Now Tha- 
bion is a compound word, Th'-ab-ion : of which the initial 
letters, s Th\' signify * God.' They are an abbreviation of 
the word ' Theuth,' ' from which the Greeks formed 0EO2, 
which with that nation was the most general name of the 
Deity. 'J ' Thabion,' therefore implies, 'the god Abion, 

the SERPENT SOLAR GOD. 

" The primitive serpent- worshippers of Canaan, against 
whom Moses cautioned the children of Israel, were the 
Hivites. This word, according to Bochart,§ is derived from 
Hhivia, a serpent, the root of which is Eph or Ev — one of 
the variations of the original Aub. Ephites or Evites, being 
aspirated, would become Hephites or Hevites — whence 
comes the word Ophites, by which the Greek historians de- 
signated the worshippers of the serpent. The Greek word 
®(p<$, a serpent, is derived from Oph, the Egyptian name for 

* Praep. Evang. lib. i. 41. t Ibid. iv. 39. 

j % Bryant. Anal. 1. 13. § Geog. Sac. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 277 

that reptile,* the same as JEph. The Hivites who were left 
1 to prove Israel,'t inhabited Mount Lebanon, ' from Mount 
Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.' The children 
of Israel intermarried with them, * and served their gods? 
These were called Baalim, which, being in the plural num- 
ber, may mean the god Baal or Bel, under different forms 
of worship ; of which that of the serpent was one ; as we 

have seen under the article * Ophiolatreia in Babylon.' " 
# * * * * 

11 Jerome Colonna attributes the name of Opici to the people 
of Campania, from a former king bearing upon his standard the 
figure of a serpent. J But this would be the necessary conse- 
quence of his being an Ophite ; for the military ensigns of 
most ancient nations were usually the images of the gods 
whom they worshipped. Thus a brigade of infantry among 
the Greeks was called srtravar^ ;§ and the Romans, in the 
age of Marcus Aurelius, had a dragon standard at the head 
of each cohort, ten in every legion. The legion marched 
under the eagle. \\ These dragons were not woven upon any 
fabric of cloth, but were real images carried on poles. 1 
Some say (as Casaubon not, in Vopis. Hist. Aug. 231.) 
that the Romans borrowed the dragon standard from the Par- 
thians: but their vicinity to the Opici of Campania may per- 
haps suggest a more probable origin. The use of them by 
the Parthians may have induced the emperor Aurelius to ex- 
tend them in his own army ; but this extension was, perhaps, 
rather a revival than an introduction of the dragon ensign. 
They are mentioned by Claudian in his Epithalamium of 
Honorius and Maria, v. 193. 

Stent bellatrices aquilae, saevique dracones. 

* Bryant. Anal. ii. 199. f Judges iii. 3. 

t Enni Vita, xv. § Hesychius. 

i| Salmasius, Not. in Jul. Capitol. Hist. August. Script. 95. 
H" See Description in Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xv. 



278 HISTORY OF THE 

" He mentions them again in his panegyric on Ruffinus and 
Honorius. Some of his lines are highly pictorial ; such as — 

Surgere purpureis undantes anguibus hastas, 
Serpentumque vago ccelum saevire volatu. 

Ruff. lib. ii. 

hi picta draconum 

Colla levant multusque tumet per nubila serpens, 

Iratus, stimulante noto, vivitque receptis 

Flatibus, et vario mentitur sibula tractu. 

Ibid. 

" Prudentius and Sidonius Apollinaris also mention them. 

" The bearers of these standards were called draconarii ; 
and it is not improbable that hence might have been derived 
our own expression of ' dragoons,' to designate a certain de- 
scription of cavalry, though the original meaning of the word 
is altogether lost." 

***** 

" The Phoenicians of Tyre consecrated an image of the 
serpent, and suspended it in their temples, encircling in its folds 
the Mundane egg,* the symbol of the universe. The serpent 
denoted the Supreme Being, in his character of the vivifying 
principle. Macrobius informs us, that the Phoenicians wor- 
shipped Janus under the figure of a serpent, forming a circle, 
with his tail in his mouth ; typifying the self-existence and 
eternity of the world, f 

ft The serpent was deemed particularly sacred to JEscula- 
pius ; and in his temples live serpents were kept for the pur- 
poses of adoration. There was a grove of iEsculapius near 
Sidon, on the banks of the Tamyras.t From which we may 
infer, that here also were kept live serpents, and worshipped. 

" The emperor Elagabalus was high priest of the god of 

* Piatein Maurice and Bryant. t Lib. i. c. 9. 

J Strabo, 756. 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 279 

that name, who had a temple at Emesa. ' He imported into 
Rome small serpents of the Egyptian breed, which were 
called in that country Agathodcemons :' these he worshipped.* 
Hence we may infer that this young emperor had been edu- 
cated in the mysteries of ophiolatreia ; an inference which is 
strengthened by the decomposition of his name, or rather that 
of his god. 

" Elagabal is perhaps El-og-ob-el ; that is, 'the god Og, 
the serpent-god.'f This was the deity whose worship was 
conveyed into western Europe, under the title of Ogham or 
Ogmius, by the Phoenician mariners, and established in Gaul 
and Ireland, as we shall see in the chapters which treat of ser- 
pent-worship in those countries. He was a compound cha- 
racter between Hercules and Mercury, bearing as his symbol 
the club of the former, surmounted by the caduceus of the 
latter. N 

" The first mention of this name in history is in the scrip- 
tures, where it appears as the cognomen of the celebrated 
king of Bashan, overthrown by Joshua. He reigned over the 
territory of Argob,J which was afterwards called by the 
Greeks Trachonitis. Trachonitis we have already resolved 
into the ' country of the dragon :' and the propriety of this 
resolution will appear from decomposing the word Argob into 
its component parts, Auu-og-ob ; of which the first signifies 
light ; the second is the name of the deity ; the third that of 
his symbol, the serpent. Faber thinks that Og is the deluge 
deified ; whence is derived Oc and Oceanus. This, I be- 
lieve, is the general opinion. But whoever Og may have been, 
the word Argob is his title ; and this title bears allusion to 
the solar deity Aur, and the serpent-deity Aub ; and ' the 

* Lampridius, cited by Jablonski, Panth. Egypt. 89. 
f Obel is probably the same as Bel — the great god of the 
Babylonians. 
\ Deut. iii.4, 



280 HISTORY OP THE 

region of Argob' in the holy land. Upon this hypothesis the 
king of Bashan (Og) would be hierarch, and king of Argob, 
assuming the name of his tutelar god." 

Truth never wanted a witness ; and when she 
takes the field Error and Superstition must fling 
away or resign their rebellious sceptres — must hide 
their diminished heads, like the stars before the 
regal steps of morning. 

The learned Divine is scrupulously correct ; 
and right glad are we to find in him, even at this 
period, so powerful a witness with regard to our 
observations upon the chieftain of Bashan. 

Finally — We now close our labours, but not till 
after death had closed the eyes of those whom we 
were most ambitious to please. 

We have submitted discoveries which are new 
and interesting — discoveries which, but for the ir- 
resistible arguments by which they are supported, 
would appear incredible. The chain of argument 
may afford matter for merriment to the superficial 
and unthinking ; but let the finger of Meditation 
pause on every period, and our judgment is far 
astray if conviction do not follow. 

The subject is by no means exhausted ; but our 
space being outrun, we must leave the philosophical 
reader to complete the picture, of which we have 
sketched the outlines. If our feeble but patriotic 
efforts serve to draw the attention of men of 
influence to the condition of a language blindly 



CELTIC LANGUAGE. 281 

contemned — serve to induce them to do common 
justice to the living language of living millions, 
hitherto so wofully neglected that those who preach 
it are not examined in it — so contemned that the 
very Bible now before us — the word of God — the 
guide to eternal life, wants nearly nine complete 
chapters of the book of Revelation;* — if our feeble 
efforts, we repeat, prove, in any degree, subservient 
to this noble end, the retrospect will be pleasing, 
and our highest object shall have been attained. 



* Notwithstanding we are not obliged to account for this 
holy theft, we are, in candour, inclined to attribute it to the 
binder; but the way in which that Book is distorted, from 
want of a corrector of the press, is only equalled by the way 
in which the majority of our two hundred Gaelic preachers 
distort and strangle, to the no small amusement of their 
hearers, the language in which they profess to be the mouth 
of God to a confiding people ! These things ought not to be 
so. 



APPENDIX. 



The writer recollects of having, on more occasions 
than one, asserted that a Highlander may be a man 
of travels — that he sees all the world before him, 
as in a panorama, in the names of places and things, 
without going out of his study ! The assertion 
was, at the time, and in the place, too strong to 
pass without a sneer; and to lead proof was incon- 
venient. That an opportunity offers now, he can- 
not, perhaps, do better than submit an argument 
or two in support of this his assertion, in order to 
show those who may have heard him upon the 
occasion or occasions referred to, that the assertion 
was not altogether gratuitous. 

Par example, and to begin at the cradle of 
mankind, — Aur, the firmament, the solar system. 
This, he reasons with himself, is a pure Celtic 
term, and yet it is the name of the capital of Chal- 
dea: the origin of this capital or temple, therefore, 
must have been an orrery of some description or 
other; and the Aurich, Aureans, or Arabs — 
appellations applicable to its inhabitants — must 
have been Celts. 

Aab-Aur, or, contracted, Ab-Ar. This must 
mean the priests of the orrery or solar representa- 
tion, and seems to be just the former phrase with 
this addition. It w T ould appear to be the ideal 
meaning of Abarim, Abaris, Abram, Loch- Ab-Ar, 
&c. 



284 APPENDIX. 

Sais, light, effulgence, illumination. This is 
rather remarkable, a city of Egypt called by a pure 
Celtic name ! Does our poet not say of the 
salmon-trout, 

" Do bhrat Ian shradag dhaoimein, 
Do bhroinn ni sais air lar"?— 

i. e. Thy coat studded with sparks of diamond, and 
thy belly communicating effulgence, to the earth. 
But why call this oriental city Sais? Can we 
trace a reason in support of the name ? Yes ; we 
find that here was celebrated an annual feast in 
honour of a deity, on which occasion Sais was 
splendidly illuminated ; nay all persons throughout 
Egypt who did not go to Sais, were obliged to il- 
luminate their windows at home ! This, then, is a 
good reason for the appellation Sais. The sun is 
called sais (ww) in Psalm xix., as also the Arabian 
war-horse in Job xxxix. ; the latter sense is sym- 
bolical : whence the Hebrew term for a horse, sus. 
The Chinese celebrate the feast of lights or lan- 
terns to this day ; and the Celts of Scotland have 
the dying rays of it in oiche chainle, i. e. the night 
of candles. 

Afric. A Cabirean term, from Aph, the solar 
serpent; and Hi, a star or circle, of which Bimow, 
or ifemon, an altar-mountain of Italy, is a variety. 

Palatine, the name of one of the hills upon which 
Rome stands; from Baal, the sun, in a consecu- 
tive sense Bala, a town, a city, a township, the B 
and P being always commutable, and tine, fire. It 
blends in meaning with Beltine, Whitsunday, liter- 
ally the fire of Baal or Bel. It is equivalent to 
Torbolton, the name of a mound in Ayrshire, 



APPENDIX. 285 

giving denomination now to a whole parish. The 
god Tor is superinduced, and the pronunciation a 
little varied ; but we keep to radicals. 

Avintinus, the epithet of another of the seven 
mounts on which Rome stands, from Aven, a river, 
or font, and tine, the sun, fire, &c. 

Curete (contracted Crete), from Cu, a dog, and 
Me, a star, the Dog-star, where Jupiter was born ; 
now called Candia, i.e. the Dog-god. 

Garone, from gar, noise, rough, and oin, a 
river, equivalent to oingar, or Niagara, trans- 
posed. 

Londobris, from londo or longa, ships, and bris, 
to break: the shipwreck islands — a cluster of 
dangerous islands, a little to the north of the 
Tagus, where, no doubt, many a ship has been 
wrecked, which circumstance gave rise to the 
name; and without which circumstance, they pro- 
bably never would have been known by any dis- 
tinctive name to this moment. These names, it 
will be acknowledged, are fragments of a language, 
and, like the other fragments, the effect of a cause. 

The subject might be followed up, ad infinitum. 
The writer, for instance, has this moment before 
him, a map of Cape Breton. He never crossed 
the Atlantic Ocean; yet he sees the history and 
the property of every mountain and creek of Cape 
Breton. Does he meet " Traginish," corrupted 
Triganish? This, he reasons with himself, is a 
compound of Trdigh, a shore, and Innis, an 
island: and is it not so? He comes to " Scatera;" 
this, he reasons, must be remarkable for scate- 
fishing; and is it not so? He comes to "Loch- 



286 APPENDIX, 

Hour on;" here is a sacred name, indicative of the 
water-worship. He meets with Azon, from Ais, 
a man, and oin, a river — in a secondary sense, the 
sun; and is it not so? Do we not find, on the 
front of some Pagan grottoes, sacred to the solar 
deity, figured a princely personage approaching an 
altar on which the fire is burning, and the sun 
above him? We find the same deity sometimes 
represented as a young man in purple, round whose 
w r aist is drawn a zone, loosely dependent, and 
with expanded wings. This deity, a Celt would 
denominate Phi-Esh-On, or, rapidly, Ephesoin; 
by transposition, Oneseph, i.e.> phi or eph, being 
the wings ; Esh, the man, and Ow, the sun. On 
the ruins of Naki Ruston, in Persia, is a beautiful 
specimen of the serpent and circle, thus: ^^^^Q^ 
which a Celt would call Pheton, or Python ; and 
is probably the emblem alluded to in the Sun of 
Righteousness rising zvith healing under his 
wings; the serpent being the emblem of heal- 
ing, and the circle having most frequently a 
pair of good wings. To come nearer home, he 
meets, in the course of his reading, with the term 
" Inch-cruinn ;" he at once sees this to be a round 
island : and is it not the name of the roundest 
island of Loch-Lomond, and in contradistinction to 
" Inch-fad" the long island? The features, pro- 
perty, or history of the rest, may be as clearly 
seen in their names respectively: such as, "Inch- 
na-moin" the island of peat, or turf; " Inch-ta- 
vanich" the isle of the monk's house; " Inch- 
caittich" the island of the nuns ; and last, though 
not least, " Inch-Murin" the large island. In all 



APPENDIX. 287 

these, the proper orthography for inch is innis; 
literally, he of the sea, or, of the water. 

Ararat, an oracular or sacred term for a mountain 
of the East, doubly expressive of the solar worship, 
probably on account of its two stupendous peaks. 
The following graphic picture of this notable moun- 
tain from the pen of Sir Robert Ker Porter, may 
not be uninteresting to the generality of our 
readers, viz. : — 

ie As the vale opened beneath us, in our descent, my whole 
attention became absorbed in the view before me. A vast 
plain peopled with countless villages ; the towers and spires 
of the churches of Eitch-mai-adzen arising from amidst them ; 
the glittering waters of the Araxes flowing through the fresh 
green of the vale ; and the subordinate range of mountains 
skirting the base of the awful monument of the antediluvian 
world, it seemed to stand a stupendous link in the history of 
man ; uniting the two races of men, before and after the flood. 
But it was not until we had arrived upon the flat plain that I 
beheld Ararat in all its amplitude of grandeur. From the spot 
on which I stood, it appeared as if the hugest mountains in 
the w r orld had been piled upon each other, to form this one 
sublime immensity of earth, and rock, and snow. The icy 
peaks of its double heads rose majestically into the clear and 
cloudless heavens ; the sun blazed bright upon them, and the 
reflection sent forth a dazzling radiance equal to other suns. 
This point of the view united the. utmost grandeur of plain 
and height ; but the feelings I experienced while looking on 
the mountain are hardly to be described. My eye, not able 
to rest any length of time on the blinding glory of its sum- 
mits, wandered down the apparently interminable sides, till I 
could no longer trace their vast lines in the mists of the hori- 
zon ; when an inexpressible impulse immediately carrying my 
eye upwards, again refixed my gaze on the awful glare of 
Ararat ; and this bewildered sensibility of sight being answer- 
ed by a similar feeling in the mind, for some moments I was 
lost in the strange suspension of the powers of thought." 

All true etymology can be supported by history 
or some concurrent circumstance or circumstances. 
That the name of Ararat, like that of every other 
remarkable mountain, is Cabalistic or Sacred, its 



288 APPENDIX. 

history tends thoroughly to corroborate. Taver- 
nier tells us that there are many monasteries on it, 
which circumstance of itself might furnish a reason 
for the name. The Eastern people, we are told, 
call it Aurdag, or Ardag, i.e. a finger, from its 
pointing straight up. It is remarkable that Ardag, 
or Ordag, is the Celtic for the thumb, a figurative 
name, because it points upwards, especially in the 
attitude of prayer ! The Persians call Ararat 
Asisj where the radix is equivalent, being from 
Aish or Esh, man ; in a secondary sense, the sun 
doubly expressed — in plain English, the two peaks 
of the sun. Even the name of Noah's Ark, so 
interwoven in history with this mountain, are Cabal- 
istic, whether you take ron Tbe (Tau-Aub), or, 
with us, the more familiar name ms Arg (Aur- 
Og). We Celts pronounce it Arci ; now Ar is the 
solar system, and ci or cu a dog. Here, then, 
have we again Sirius or the Dog-star. The ancients 
believed that ships could not float without some 
solar emblem, which Pagan custom we have in a 
less defined degree in the figure-heads of our ships 
to this day. Has our assertion been altogether 
gratuitous ? How natural also our mode of 
genealogy ? 

Mac Iain mhic Lachinmhic Iain 
Mhic Dhomhnuil mhic Ruari mhic Eachain 
Mhic Neil mhic Challum mhic Lachin 
Mhic Iain-Ghairbh. 

THE END. 



Glasgow :— Edward Khull, Printer to the University. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: August 2006 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16086 
(724)779-2111 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





003 097 206 5 



